South Korean blockchain platform, ICON, continues to forge ahead with projects involving the local administration. This week it demoed three new initiatives in conjunction with the Seoul Metropolitan Government; ID Card, Voting System & S-Coin Payment.
At the Seoul Metropolitan Government Blockchain International Digital Festival this week ICON showcased its new offerings aiming to ease the lives of Seoul residents. According to a medium post the demonstrations have been the culmination of collaboration between ICONLOOP and a number of government agencies including the Korea National Information Society Agency (NIA) and Korea National Election Commission.
Three main projects where showcased by the team, the first being a national blockchain based citizen ID card. A user’s details and photo was taken on a laptop and the digital ID card transferred to a mobile phone once a QR code has been scanned. The system is a little rudimentary at the moment but shows the potential this platform has with citizen based applications.
The second demo was of the ICON blockchain voting system which was touted to be the ‘next generation election system’. A user registered a vote using the platform and is then rewarded with an ‘S-coin’, which was pegged to the Korean Won for this demo. The Korea National Information Society Agency and the Korea National Election Commission have collaborated on this project to digitize voting and embrace the qualities a blockchain can bring to the process.
S-coin payments were the third item on the agenda. This is a prototype cryptocurrency called Seoul Coin aimed at digitizing payments across the city. Scanning a QR code of the product would transfer its details and price to a mobile app which can then be used to make payment for it instantly using digital currency with no need for cash or cards.
ICON has been very active building ties with the South Korean government in recent months. According to another blog post; “ICON is actively leading state-level discussions with the government to accelerate the state of crypto legislation in the country.” South Korea is one of the most crypto-friendly nations on the planet and they clearly aim to keep that accolade.
ICON’s native token, ICX, however has not escaped the wrath of the bears over the past 24 hours and has fallen with the rest of the altcoins. At the time of writing ICX is down 2.6% on the day to $0.631, its lowest level for two weeks.