Myanmar's first entirely crypto-based banking institution, the Spring Development Bank, which could expand access to financial services and funding for the country's shadow government and its citizens, was set to launch July 22. The bank, built on Polygon, aims to offer faster and more efficient domestic and international payments, according to a BTC News report.
"We cannot just move funds into a banking system controlled by the military, so we have to provide this alternative financial system that’s based on trust and guaranteed by the government,” Tin Tun Naing, interim central bank governor and acting minister of finance and industry for Myanmar, said, adding the bank was a fundamentally “revolutionary” institution, BTC News noted.
The bank is named for the opposition movement known as the Spring Revolution, which was headed by the exiled National Unity Government (NUG) against the country's reigning State Administration Council, a military junta that seized power in February 2021, BTC News reported.
Besides the bank's primary market of 55 million Burmese residing in Myanmar, these services would also serve the roughly 2 million Burmese citizens living abroad that frequently send money home, BTC News reported. According to reports, current charges for using conventional methods to transfer money to Myanmar can be as high as 30%.
A Spring Development Bank representative told Cointelegraph that crypto was the natural choice for giving financial support to both Burmese citizens and the exiled government. The representative added that the bank was launched with the full backing and resources of NUG and is further licensed by the interim central bank of Myanmar, which is under NUG administration.
“Spring Development Bank and the blockchain technology it’s powered by is the natural progression in terms of a fundraising strategy for the NUG,” a Spring Development Bank official told Cointelegraph, as reported by BTC News.
The bank will launch a variety of new fiat-pegged stablecoins, including the U.S. dollar, Singapore dollar, Myanmar kyat and Thai baht, according to BTC News. Users can connect these assets into the UniSwap V3-based "currency swap" feature of the bank to exchange stablecoins.
According to the bank's CEO, who for security reasons goes by the moniker Calvin T., the opening of the new institution marked the beginning of Myanmar regaining its financial independence, BTC News reported.
