The Central Bank of Thailand held a meeting with digital currency startup and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in mid-August 2017 to talk about such topics as the future of the Thai economy and its finance sector.
The parties particularly discussed the possible integration of the digital currency Ethereum and the Blockchain-based services offered by companies like OmiseGo to further improve the country’s existing banking systems and financial platforms.
What is OmiseGo?
The startup company OmiseGo, which was established in 2013, has developed its Ethereum-based technology in its bid to introduce an efficient and secure infrastructure for payment processing based on the Blockchain technology.
Over the past four years, the company was able to expand its operations across Asia and has secured the support of leading investment firms.
OmiseGo was also able to gain the support of several experts in the industry like Ethereum co-founders Buterin and Gavin Wood and Bitcoin expert Joseph Poon.
In its statement, the OmiseGo team said that it aims to facilitate financial transactions through the Ethereum Blockchain:
“Through the network connected to the Ethereum mainnet, anyone will be able to conduct financial transactions such as payments, remittances, payroll deposit, B2B commerce, supply-chain finance, loyalty programs, asset management and trading, and other on-demand services, in a completely decentralized and inexpensive way.”
Other Blockchain developments in Thailand and other Asian countries
Meanwhile, several Thai companies have adopted the Blockchain technology in their operations.
Among them is leading Thai commercial bank Kasikornbank, which partnered with technology firm IBM to integrate the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain into its current systems used in processing letters of guarantees.
Moreover, a number of countries in the region including South Korea, Japan and China have also announced their plans to aggressively test possible applications of Ethereum to improve existing government infrastructures.