A team of developers that’s creating a national cryptocurrency, Sovereign (SOV), said a freshly minted crypto coin will see the light of day this year. The project has been joined by experts like Steve Tendon, the architect behind the idea of transforming Malta into a “blockchain island”, according to SOV blog.
The launch of the crypto-cash on the islands with limited infrastructure will be made possible via Tangem, a startup which develops hardware storage for any cryptocurrency (plastic cards with a chip and NFC antenna inside). Tusk Ventures and Guidepost Solutions will arrange regulatory issues.
The technical documentation is nearly complete and expected to be published in the near future. Additionally, plans have been set to launch Aijar Jenlik Foundation to finance blockchain projects and support SOV ecosystem.
SOV development team relocated to the Marshall Islands in early 2018 to kick off the project and to help craft the Sovereign Currency Act of 2018, which officially declares SOV as legal tender of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
However, in September 2018, the project received criticism from major financial organizations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the U.S. Treasury Department. The IMF warned about the potential risks of using a cryptocurrency as legal tender, stating that “the potential benefits from revenue gains appear considerably smaller than the potential costs arising from economic, reputational, AML/CFT, and governance risks.”
