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The Japanese city of Nishiawakura, Okayama prefecture, announced on Wednesday June 13 that it decided to launch an initial currency offer (ICO), the first promoted by a municipal government in Japan, in order to revitalize its economy and create a self-sustaining region in the future, according to a press release from the municipality.
Nishiawakura, says the press office in a recent statement, is a municipality of 1,500 inhabitants that is in a wooded area that represents 95% of the area of the city, and has not yielded to the recommendations of the government to consolidate with other municipalities because you want to remain independent. The consolidations, recommended for reasons of administrative efficiency, have reduced the number of municipalities from almost 2,000 to 1,822 between 1,999 and 2,005.
The municipality seems to have been inspired by other municipal initiatives that have considered the raising of funds through the issuance of cryptoactives, because it mentions the background of Berkeley, California, in the United States and Seoul, the capital of South Korea, which has manifested plans to issue its own currency, the S-Coin.
Nishiawakura selected the path of independence, which is why we promoted revitalization measures such as the industrialization of the exploitation of forests. In order to promote the creation of a self-sustaining region in the future, and as a means to secure financing for the local government, we will issue tokens and create virtual currencies. We will carry out fundraising through an ICO, the first in Japan driven by a municipality.
In order to deal with the issues related to the tokens to be issued, the municipality created the Tokens Economic Association and states that it will adopt self-regulatory guidelines stipulated in the country, both by the national fixed refund settlement law and the Association of the Exchange Industry of Foreign Exchange of Japan, established in April 2018.
Although a specific date has not yet been provided for the launch of the initial currency offer, the website dedicated to this initiative provides other details. For example, there is an open call for people of different professional profiles, who try to collect ideas and proposals for the initial offer. The portal wants to hear statements from engineers, artists, influencers, entrepreneurs, and creators, among other profiles.
In addition to the aforementioned background on proposals of cities interested in an initial offer of currency, there is the announcement, in mid-April, of the mayor of the city Lafayette, State of Louisiana (USA), of plans for the creation and launch of a cryptocurrency local, to promote the technological development of the governmental platforms and the investment of third parties to increase the budget of public works of the city.