- Federal Reserve Bank of New York has frozen funds since February 2021.
- The funds are essential for the country’s “revolutionary efforts” as per Minister.
The government of Myanmar, which was overthrown in a coup in 2021, announced its intention to issue digital money half a year later, utilizing monies that had previously been blocked.
Tin Tun Naing, Minister of Planning for Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government, called for the “U.S. blessing” to utilize “virtually” the country’s reserves in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. These deposits have been frozen by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since February 2021.
Step to Improve Financial Stability
According to Bloomberg, the funds Naing refers to might be worth billions of dollars and have been frozen in Singaporean, Thai, and Japanese banks. Naing believes the U.S. will opt to provide these assets to the National Unity Government outright, but he does raise the prospect of utilising them as reserves to underpin the digital currency of the exiled alternative central bank. The funds are essential for the country’s “revolutionary efforts.”
Many members of the National Unity Government were elected in free and fair elections in November 2020 but were forced out of office in February 2021 by the country’s long-lasting military junta. It has issued revolutionary bonds and auctioned off junta leader Min Aung Hlaing’s houses before in an attempt to raise funds.
A junta spokesman announced plans to establish a digital currency to facilitate domestic payments in Myanmar and “help improve financial activities” in the nation in February 2022. The Central Bank of Myanmar issued a warning before the military took control that anybody caught trading digital assets in Myanmar might face imprisonment or a fine.
The National Unity Government, in contrast, declared Tether (USDT), a stablecoin to be an official currency in December 2021.
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