Konya, the city of Turkey, is known for its cultural and historical significance. Besides its historical importance, the establishment of the Konya Science Centre has also opened the doors for innovative technology such as blockchain. The team of the blockchain developers, under the supervision of Konya Science Centre, is trying to use the blockchain technology in the municipal services.

City Coin Project for City

The Metropolitan Mayor of Konya, Uğur İbrahim Altay, during a smart city congress at the local level, on Jan.16, revealed that they are going for a ‘’City Coin’’ and trying to establish blockchain network for funding.

The progress status of the city project is informed by the head of the Konya Science and Technology, Dr. Ali Osman Çıbıkdiken. According to him, their team is comprised of seven blockchain developers and their first job is ‘’to look for ways to use blockchain technology for funding social programs.’’

Çıbıkdiken has a good profile in blockchain and also remained a consultant in many of the Blockchain-based projects such as TrueFeedBack. Çıbıkdiken said while expressing his view about the city coin project:

The cryptocurrency we are currently developing will be used in social aid programs, municipal corporations’ activities, public transport, and environmental services. This blockchain-based local ecosystem will serve the Konya citizens. The project will also see the development of a payment system to enable crypto in many municipal services.’

As mentioned above, the aim is to hedge funds for social works and the involvement of government, as well as stakeholders, will help to build a strong Blockchain ecosystem. The trial model for ‘’City Coin’’ is expected to launch within six months and will run officially within a year.

The report of the Konya Chamber of Commerce unveils that the city has ten different smart projects for the welfare of the citizens. The City Coin, blockchain-based project, is also included in the list that aims to develop an efficient way of payments for public level services such as smart transportation, shared bikes, and electric buses.

Turkey has big plans for Blockchain

Turkey has also launched various blockchain-related programs at the national level. For example, the country has a plan to launch Digital Lira in 2020. Another important step in this regard is taken by Turkish Takesbank that launched the blockchain-based platform for gold transfer called BiGa Digital Gold.

The increasing adoption of the cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology has encouraged the worldwide crypto brokers to open their offices in the country. For example, Huobi and Binance opened offices at the local level.