In March last year, the tiny island nation of Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) have created their digital currency to boost their economy. The Marshall Islands is the only country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender. The currency called Sovereign or SOV is also the world’s first decentralized national currency and has status equal to US Dollars which was their accepted mode of payment until now.
Tangem is a Swiss-based crypto wallet innovator who created “Tangem Notes” which allow the consumers to carry their digital assets in physical form. Tangem announced that they have partnered up with the authorities of RMI to issue the physical banknotes of the Sovereign.
Marshall Island has been facing financial isolation as banks fled their country afraid of the rising sea level. With nothing to lose, they decided to create a legal tender cryptocurrency in a desperate attempt to boost their economy. The government partnered with Israeli company Neema to launch the SOV.
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The alliance with the Tangem will make sure that all citizens of the Marshall Islands have fair and equal access to their digital currency. A user needn’t have an internet connection with them all the time. Tangem Banknotes allow immediate transaction validation, zero fees and no Internet connection requirements for the end users. Hence, these plastic representations of digital assets will enable the off-chain natural circulation of the SOV among all SOV holders and will not impose the technical infrastructure burden on the RMI.
Tangem offers hardware storage are certified with EAL6+ protection for any cryptocurrency. They also have irretrievable private keys which prohibit replication of wallet and its assets. Each SOV Tangem card will combine the advantage of regular banknotes with the security of blockchain technology. These notes will be fully transparent, 100% secure, decentralized, and represent a controllable mechanism of currency issuance and circulation for the state.
“We are excited to partner with the Republic of the Marshall Islands to do something that has never been done before: issue a digital currency as official legal tender. As the IMF has noted, the world is moving towards the widespread adoption of digital currencies, and we are excited to support the birth of the new global digital economy” said Andrey Kurennykh, co-founder of Tangem
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David Paul, the minister in Assistance to the President of Marshall Island says that they are excited to bring in Tangem as another reputable and forward-thinking partner on our journey to create the world’s first sovereign digital currency. “Tangem will help us ensure all citizens, including those living on more remote outer islands, are able to easily and practically transact using SOV” he concluded.
