SFB Technologies announced today that the blockchain for Marshall Islands’ sovereign national digital currency, the Marshallese sovereign (SOV), will be built using Algorand technology. The SOV will circulate alongside the US dollar and help the Marshall Islands efficiently operate in the global economy.
Algorand is the inventor of an open-source, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol that enables the development of scalable blockchain-native solutions for real-world use cases. SFB Technologies, the appointed organizer for the Marshallese sovereign initiative, chose the Algorand protocol for its speed, scalability, security and its ability to effectively implement required compliance controls and the transaction finality needed for a national currency.
“Algorand was selected after extensive market research among the leading protocol options. The company has already powered several mainstream use cases and thanks to its unique features the platform has the functionality required to issue, manage and distribute the SOV on a global level. This partnership ensures that the SOV will be built on a scalable and secure platform.”
– Jim Wagner, co-founder, and CTO of SFB Technologies
The government of the Marshall Islands will oversee the SOV and leverage the combination of Algorand’s blockchain functionality and SFB Technologies’ identity management and compliance platform.
“The Marshall Island’s vision for global participation and inclusion in an open financial system by harnessing the benefits of blockchain technology is aligned with a truly global and decentralized society that we believe is made possible with our technology. We are proud to support the country on its groundbreaking journey towards mainstream digital currency adoption.”
– Silvio Micali, founder of Algorand
The SOV supply will be algorithmically fixed to grow at 4% each year to prevent runaway inflation. The SOV will be introduced through a token pre-sale: rights to future SOV will be sold in a series of auctions as part of a time-release monetary issuance (TRMI), which is expected to begin this year.
“I am excited about the technological partnership with Algorand. With it, a strong alliance is forming to develop the SOV project. This is another milestone towards developing the Marshall Islands financial services industry.”
– Kenneth Kedi, Speaker of the Marshallese Parliament