The mayor’s office of the South Korean city of Busan has allocated 100 billion Korean won ($75 million) for a single open platform compatible with different blockchains such as Ethereum and Cosmos. Officials promise to turn Busan into a “blockchain city.”

Funds are raised through investments from government financial institutions. About 100 private companies have also expressed interest in the development. The proposal was supported by the private Blockchain Innovation Fund (BIF), which supports the development of blockchain infrastructure in Busan.

Local authorities have been actively testing various blockchain use cases in the local free trade zone. However, most of these projects involved different blockchains, which is not very convenient for business. This was one of the main reasons why the Busan administration decided to create an open platform compatible with several major blockchains.

The mayor’s office is participating in the creation of the Blockchain Trust Framework technology standard under the leadership of the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA). The project is aimed at improving the quality of service for users of public services.

The long-term development plan for blockchain includes the opening of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange in the first half of 2024. It is expected that the exchange will host not only digital assets, but also tokenized securities, precious metals, and commodities. In the future, the organizers of such projects are going to tokenize and sell international intellectual property rights, as well as rights to carbon dioxide emissions.

Already in 2020, Busan residents gained access to government services through a blockchain-based application. Last year, local authorities entered into an agreement with cryptocurrency exchange Binance to develop city infrastructure.