Tether Is Now The Official Currency Of Myanmar’s Shadow Government

Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government (NUG), made up of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters, has recognised stablecoin Tether (USDT) as its official currency for local use.

The NUG Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Investment posted an announcement regarding the move on Facebook. 

This decision undermines the crypto ban imposed by the Central Bank of Myanmar last year. 

So, how can adopting a stablecoin like Tether change the political scenario in Myanmar? 

In a Democratically Crippled State, How is Crypto Helping Myanmar?

The shadow government will accept Tether for its ongoing fundraising camp in an attempt to establish democratic principles in Myanmar. They raised $9.5 million through the sale of “Spring Revolution Special Treasury Bonds” offered to the Myanmar diaspora across the world. The group aims to raise $1 billion through the sale of NUG-issued bonds. 

The adoption of Tether here is highly significant because of crypto’s contribution to a democratic struggle. El Salvador’s first-mover was a game-changer when it made Bitcoin a legal tender, but Myanmar’s adoption is a whole new ball game. If they can raise $1 billion, who knows, it might even change the entire political scenario of Myanmar for good. 

In addition, this also shows the increasing acceptance of cryptocurrencies in emerging economies.

Why Tether?

Other than the fact that Tether is less volatile, it can be traded peer-to-peer allowing more privacy. 

The current Myanmar regime in the past has seized funds to cripple any sort of threat to the regime. By incorporating Tether, privacy concern is not an issue anymore and whatever funds they are collecting from the Myanmar diaspora across the world is protected in the blockchain. 

The NUG finance minister said the primary reason behind Tether’s incorporation is “domestic use to make it easy and speed up the current trade, services, and payment systems.”

The NUG was recognised as the official government of Myanmar by the French Senate and the European parliament in October 2021. 

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