President Surangel Whipps Jr. said cryptocurrency exchange licensing would add value to thezdigital residency law.
On Wednesday, Whipps said 150 digital residency applications were approved.
“And of course, the people who have signed up have questions themselves. They ask that now that they have been issued digital IDs, what’s the value and what can they do with it,” Whipps told reporters.
Palau launched the Digital Residency Program earlier this month with billionaire Tim Draper announced as Founding Digital Resident.
The first version of the digital residency bill sought the establishment of a “cryptocurrency Exchange Licensing. The crypto exchange will allow Palau to license companies that conduct trading of cryptocurrencies, where people would exchange dollars for cryptocurrencies.
In the press conference Wednesday, the president said there is a need to revisit the crypto exchange licensing proposal.
“One of the things that we need to look at, also, a part of the digital residency act is the crypto exchange licensing, one of the things we need to do is to work with an experienced legal person to help us draft a good legislation,” he said.
The president said that most of the digital residents would want to trade cryptocurrency.
“There are other pieces of the legislation that need to be passed to help provide value to their digital residency because it doesn’t make sense to pay for it while can’t do anything with it,” he said.
The digital residency program allows a non-citizen without being a physical resident of Palau to apply for a digital residency ID.
The bearer of the digital residency ID can open digital accounts, apply for a legal name change certificate, establish a physical mailing address, and establish a digital phone number. (Island Times)