"Super-Aged" South Korean City Turns to Crypto to Tackle Aging Population

"Super-Aged" South Korean City Turns to Crypto to Tackle Aging Population

The second-largest city in South Korea, Busan, is making efforts to become a crypto hub to tackle the aging population. The city has been labeled by the Korean government as a "super-aged" city, and its officials believe that the establishment of the crypto hub would eventually help in changing the demography by attracting young people, tech startups, and investors.

Busan to Become a Crypto Hub

The second-largest city in South Korea, Busan, is making efforts to establish itself as a crypto hub, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The port city is facing demographic challenges as it has been labeled as a "super-aged" city by the Korean government, meaning that more than 20% of its population is 65 years of age or older.

Busan city officials believe that the establishment of the crypto hub would attract young people, technology startups, and investment from venture capital firms.

Noting that younger people prefer to work in the crypto sector, Park Kwang-hee, head of the finance and blockchain division at Busan’s metropolitan government, was quoted by the publication as saying:

"We thought it was right to focus on digital assets and financial products."

Park said that despite the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX in November last year, Busan remains committed to its plans to become a crypto hub.

The Busan Digital Asset Exchange

The city has entered into memorandums of understanding with several of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance Holdings Ltd., to launch the Busan Digital Asset Exchange by the end of this year. Binance said last August that as per the terms of the agreement, Busan will "receive technological and infrastructure support from Binance" and the two exchanges will share their order books.

The Busan Digital Asset Exchange also plans to venture into security tokens. The South Korean government is considering permitting the issuance of such tokens in the coming year, reversing its 2017 ban on all initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Moreover, Busan’s drive to become a crypto hub includes attracting blockchain companies. In 2019, the city became a regulation-free zone for blockchain testing and related business development. It currently backs six projects by 17 companies. In December last year, 15 more blockchain companies moved into the Busan International Finance Center, pushing the total number of companies to 29.

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