The South Korean government has doubled the allocation for blockchain and allied technology and will invest over a trillion won or $919 million towards the technology in 2019.
In a plan unveiled on Monday, Ministry of Economy and Finance under the South Korean government announced it will spend a total of about 5 trillion won on emerging technology like big data analytics and transactions, blockchain, and a hydrogen fuel cell supply chain.
“The government will focus on promoting big data and AI, developing blockchain technology to ensure data management security and boosting the sharing economy,” the ministry said in a release.
As per the plan, the government will spend 1.04 trillion won on big data, AI, blockchain and sharing economy, almost double that of 2018.
“The government will invest a total of 9-10 trillion won in a platform economy over the next five years. Given the impact of a nationwide platform on other industries, in addition to those directly involved, the platform economy will accelerate ‘growth through innovation’,” the release said.
Under the plan, eight pilot projects will also run which include work on future cars, drone services, new energies, healthcare biotechnology, smart factories, smart cities, smart farms and fintech.
South Korea is one of the leaders in the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency market. The country recently witnessed the opening of industry-specific research centres. Several leading cryptocurrency exchanges also operate out of the country.
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