CZ visits Palau to kick off BNB Chain-supported ID NFTs for digital residency program

Published at: June 10, 2022

The Republic of Palau announced Friday that it will issue identification cards to its digital residents in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on Binance’s BNB Chain blockchain. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was on hand in the Pacific Island nation for the unveiling of the NFTs and to meet with Palauan President Surangel S. Whipps, Jr.

Palau introduced its Root Name System (RNS) Digital Residency program in January. California-based Cryptic Labs took part in the development of the program, which provides global citizens with identity cards issued by the government of Palau. Physical cards already exist.

Planned uses for the new RNS ID NFTs include Know Your Customer (KYC) functions, access to digital banking, verified on-chain signatures and accessing services requiring government-issued identification.

“We want to create the Palauan dream,” Whipps said at a press conference, adding:

“And having you here, CZ and Binance, opens that door of opportunity to develop new industries, new businesses here that hopefully can bring our young people back to Palau and be part of the new technology and innovations that’s out there.”

“There’s regulations we need to work on within the digital residency program, but more importantly, the Corporate Registry Act,” Whipps continued. “It’s good to have a commitment from Binance to help us from the regulatory side.”

CZ said in his response, “We will definitely explore further investment in the Palau ecosystem. […] We have already expressed our interest in, outside of crypto, traditional financial service sectors, including payment services, digital banks, etc.”

Related: Palau partners with Ripple on climate-friendly national digital currency

CZ went on to call Palau, which has a population of less than 20,000, a “very good prototyping ground.” Palau has distinct advantages for innovation, he said, as small countries are able to move fast to innovate, and Palau’s “kind of U.S.-driven” economy is fairly well-developed.

Tourism is open In Palau , and so is blockchain. Come. pic.twitter.com/M7jcTC32cY

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 10, 2022
Tags
Blockchain
Nft
Regulation
Business
Government
Related Posts
Facebook’s David Marcus calls for 'fair shot' at crypto payments
In a newly published Medium piece titled "Good stablecoins, a protocol for money, and digital wallets: the formula to fix our broken payment system", Facebook’s crypto pioneer David Marcus shared his views on topics of economic inequality, regulatory challenges and Novi’s proposed stablecoin solution. Marcus has spent the last couple of years building Diem’s crypto wallet Novi — an interoperable digital wallet designed to integrate with the Diem payment system. It is meant to enable individuals and businesses worldwide to transfer money with ease, revolutionizing the age-old financial payments system once and for all. In the piece, Marcus cites the …
Adoption / Aug. 18, 2021
Crypto industry seems willing to adopt FATF travel rule: Survey
The cryptocurrency industry is eager to comply with the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) so-called Travel Rule, and appears willing to work with regulators in order to expedite the process, a new survey found. As per a survey conducted by Notabene, a crypto compliance firm based in New York, most of the crypto industry will be Travel Rule-compliant by Q2 2022. Currently, the report claims that about 70% of respondents are either practicing the rule or planning to complete their compliance in Q1/Q2 2022. The advent of cryptocurrencies has presented a fresh problem in the effort to combat money laundering …
Adoption / Jan. 27, 2022
Governments, enterprise, gaming: Who will drive the next crypto bull run?
In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. The crypto market, just as any other market, runs in cycles. Even though digital assets are known, if not infamous, for being more volatile than many other asset types, their price action still follows a familiar pattern of ups and downs. Some of this, such as Bitcoin’s (BTC) four-year cycle, largely comes down to the algorithm’s intrinsic rules — more specifically, the halving of …
Technology / June 29, 2022
Demystifying the business imperatives of the Metaverse
In a previous article, I discussed the evolution of Web3 economies and current volatility, focusing on the participatory nature of Web3, which is the foundational technology enabling the creator economy. The term “metaverse” — meta and universe — often describes the anticipated future iteration or evolution of the internet powered by Web3 technologies like blockchain and decentralized resource distribution and consumption principles. Although the focus has often been on metaverse modalities such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), gaming, Second Life, avatars and so forth, in my view, these modalities represent an interesting evolution or shift from the digital …
Adoption / April 30, 2022
Ideas vs. practice: How are regulators working together on crypto?
The regulation of cryptocurrencies across the world is a constant battle for investors in a rapidly expanding and constantly changing ecosystem. Various regulatory agencies around the world view digital assets in a different light that vary significantly from one another. Recently, executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB) Fabio Panetta mentioned in a written statement for a speech to Columbia University that regulators should follow a globally coordinated approach while regulating digital assets. He said that the world should have digital assets regulated by the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) rules of the …
Decentralization / May 25, 2022