The soft launch of Spring Development Bank (SDB) will begin on Saturday as part of the National Unity Government (NUG)’s effort to fund the revolution and block financial flows to the junta, Myanmar’s shadow government announced on Thursday.
Its Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Investment (MOPFI) and the interim central bank have been preparing for seven months to establish the bank, which will become Myanmar’s first financial institution to run entirely on crypto and blockchain.
Plans are underway to open SDB branches or agency access points in major liberated areas, said Minister of Planning, Finance, and Investment U Tin Tun Naing.
The soft launch will focus on user acceptance testing, said U Tin Tun Naing, who is also governor of the interim central bank.
He said that the junta had been making threats about people’s bank accounts and violating public privacy despite banking rules prohibiting this.
“MOPFI is also responsible for protecting the financial security and privacy of people. Therefore, this is also our purpose in establishing a banking system and an independent financial mechanism,” he explained.
SDB is licensed and regulated by the Interim Central Bank of Myanmar and it will operate with an agency banking network at the initial stage. It will use blockchain technology on a polygon network, according to the MOPFI.
When services commence, customers will be able to use four currencies: Myanmar’s kyat, US and Singaporean dollars, and the Thai baht. MOPFI has planned to deliver the services of the bank in three phases.
In Phase 1, the bank will start providing services including currency exchange and Swap services, account transfers, cross-country remittances, digital gold savings, and purchases of the NUG’s End of Dictatorship products.
In Phase 2, the bank will add more currencies, including the British pound, the euro, the Korean won and the Japanese yen. SDB will also expand services and products to include merchant payments, digital debit cards, SWIFT links and corresponding accounts, individual loans to the revolution, and swap NUG bonds.
SDP CEO Calvin T. said that the ministry prioritizes the security and privacy of customers using the banking system, but that SDB will still comply with “know your customer” standards.
Bank staff will not ask for unnecessary personal information, he said, explaining that only very basic information will be required for customers to use the bank. SDP’s CEO Calvin T. said users of the bank can remain anonymous.
In December 2021, the NUG declare Tether USDT (a US dollar-pegged stable coin) as an official currency for local use and a legal tender in a bid to speed up international trade. In June 2022, the MOPFI launched its own digital currency, DMMK, as well as the NUGPay application. DMMK’s value is linked to the kyat and can be used both in the country and abroad through the NUGPay app.
In January, the NUG said it had raised more than US$ 100 million to fund its effort to topple the junta. About 45 percent of the funds are from the sales of Spring Revolution Special Treasury Bonds.
