On Wednesday, six blockchain associations across the ASEAN and Australia virtually signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to create the ASEAN Blockchain Consortium. The associations are from Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Labuan territory in Malaysia, Thailand and Australia. The stated aim is to collaborate to raise awareness and adoption of blockchain and digital assets and engage with regulators.
“The MOU will allow us to share our experiences and learn from other consortium members especially on the use of blockchain as a governance tool to eliminate non-value-added costs associated with trust in transactions among self-interested parties,” said Justo A Ortiz, Chairman of the Distributed Ledger Technology Association of the Philippines (DLTAP). “We look forward to the collaboration and support the growth of the industry in ASEAN and Australia.”
The consortium was initiated by the Blockchain Association of Singapore (BAS). Its chairman Chia Hock Li explained that the timing was opportune with the current high profile of blockchain. “We are seeing increasing regulatory certainty and urgency in blockchain regulations,” he said. “We are also seeing increasing institutional interest in the digital assets industry.” He referred to DBS Bank offering crypto-assets locally in Singapore to high net worth individuals and institutional investors as well as other steps taken internationally by PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Finally, he noted the increasing number of larger scale blockchain implementations, especially in trade finance.
The six consortium members are:
- Asosiasi Blockchain Indonesia (ABI)
- Blockchain Association Singapore (BAS)
- Distributed Ledger Technology Association of the Philippines (DLTAP)
- Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC)
- Thailand Digital Asset Operators Trade Association (TDO)
- Blockchain Australia (BA)