Seoul Blockchain Project to Reward Residents with Digital Coins

It was reported last year that the South Korean capital was going to introduce a blockchain system.This was said to be a way to pay rewards digitally to its citizens. While things seemed to have gone quiet since then, the latest news to come out on the Seoul blockchain proposals suggests that it will be launched soon.

The mayor of Seoul, Park Won-Soon, has campaigned on the strength of his vision for a blockchain-powered city. We saw this in last year’s Blockchain City Seoul Promotion Plan. This initiative covered 14 uses of the blockchain in local administrative services. 127.3 million won (close to $105,000) has been set aside for it.

Details of the Seoul Blockchain Scheme

The idea behind this scheme is that the metropolitan government of Seoul will introduce an administrative services branch that uses the blockchain. The current news stories coming out from South Korea suggest that this will be done in November of this year.

It was revealed in a press conference that was held in July that citizens who use the city’s public services will earn S-coins for doing so. Among the things that people can do to earn blockchain rewards are taking part in public opinion polls and paying their taxes.

These points can then be exchanged for rewards. It has also been confirmed that the system will be run using ZeroPay. This is a government-backed network that uses QR codes. Therefore, the people of Seoul will be able to use their mobile devices to pay for goods and services.

Other areas covered by this new Seoul blockchain project include a way of submitting qualification with no documents to back them up, An improved Seoul Citizens Card will also permit users to authenticate their identity digitally in order to use public services.

What Happens Next?

It is expected that, by the end of 2019, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will have implemented at least part of their ambitious plans for moving over to the blockchain.

The interesting question that this raises is when we can expect other cities to follow suit. Who will move over to a blockchain-powered network for some of their administrative tasks next? Dubai is one of the few places where similar plans are known to be in place. There have also been suggestions that Iran may be considering the idea of launching their own cryptocurrency.

South Korea has long been seen as a leader in the cryptocurrency world. Therefore, there are sure to be some other parts of the world where government officials are keeping a close eye on how the blockchain project in Seoul runs.