Two South Korean ministries have declared their support for the blockchain industry, with plans to finance local firms with $3.2 million to promote the use of this technology.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Information and Communication Industry Promotion will launch a pilot program named ‘Blockchain Technology Validation Support in 2020″ to carry out the initiative.

The move aims to pick nine local firms through free public offers and finance them with 450 million won ($360,000) each.

The project’s requirements include the quality of current performance, the viability of future performance, expected outcomes and the number of jobs to be offered.

Primary objectives

The chosen firms will provide services that can create economic and social benefits through blockchain technology.

Park Yoon-kyu, Minister of ICT, said:

“We plan to support domestic specialized companies to rapidly grow and activate the ecosystem in the early stage of the blockchain market.”

Beyond blockchain

The project also encourages the participating companies to build business models based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence.

The chosen firms filed for five trademarks, nine trademark licenses and two investment rounds last year.

Earlier this month, Cryptolydian reported that South Korea’s National Assembly has adopted a law on the use of private financial transaction data, with a focus on introducing a permit system for crypto platforms.

Accordingly, crypto platforms would have to report their business to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), after getting “real name-confirmed accounts” from banks.

The exchanges that fail to report their business could face prison sentences of up to five years, or fines of up to 50 million won ($42,000).

The bill, to be introduced in March 2021, stipulates that licensed exchanges should to meet real-name account and ISMS security criteria, and to register their business within six months from enforcement of the law.

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