Not only is China announcing that it will add all its efforts in favor of Blockchain technology, a statement given by both President XI Jinping and the Central Bank, now also South Korea reaffirms that it will continue to support financially, as it has done, related projects with the use of the blockchain.
The Korean Internet Security Agency (KISA) reported it will support Blockchain-related projects in 2020 and that it`s earmarked 10.5 billion won, which`s around USD $ 9 million. This money will be used for Blockchain financing, but has ruled out the support of crypto projects or crypto exchanges.
It will be the third year of such support from KISA, which depends on the Ministry of Science and Information Technology of South Korea. The plans were discussed at a meeting in Seoul on Friday of last week.
10 projects
Coindesk Korea indicates that about 10 projects will be chosen for next year, while one or two of them will receive funds for several years. The maximum funding will be USD $ 1.2 million per project, said Min Kyung-sik, head of the KISA Blockchain center.
He also informed that both public and private sector projects may participate. The application will be taken until November 11 and the results will be announced on December 20. The public sector includes any of the 400 government-related entities, such as central agencies, regional organizations and public institutions.
However, KISA ruled out support for cryptocurrency projects, as well as cryptocurrency exchanges. However, it leaves the door open for projects carried out by major financial institutions that may involve tokens.
2019 projects
Among the projects supported this year – for a total of USD $ 11 million – are a donation platform, the used car service platform of Hyundai Autoever and a Blockchain identification platform, which was backed by the main telephone companies in the country .
In addition, a record management system for the National Archives, a network for sharing medical information, a system for food safety, a battery registration system for electric vehicles and a carbon emission registration system were also supported.
This accounts for the interest in the use of Blockchain in other services far beyond cryptocurrencies.