Cambodia: The Crypto ‘Kingdom of Wonder'
Under the GlobalEyes spotlight on this occasion is a nation very close to my heart – the Kingdom of Cambodia – somewhere I had the pleasure of living in rural beach-side tropical jungle paradise for two magical years. This often overlooked ASEAN gem is a constitutional monarchy that was once the epicentre of the mighty Khmer Empire.1 Subsequent to the abhorrent horrors of the Khmer Rouge (1975)2, Prime Minister Hun Sen has held power since 1985, with the present monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni presiding since 2004.
The scars of the gruesome civil war are omnipotently evident at the beaches, schools, countryside and cities alike. Nevertheless, huge infrastructure projects such as that in the special economic zone (SEZ)3 Krong Preah Sihanouk/Sihanoukville (‘Westport’)45 are underway in partnership with China’s One Belt One Road Initiative678 and there is very much something of a rising middle class across the country, often resulting from the sale of land reclaimed for the development projects.9 However, the country itself remains relatively poor and severely underdeveloped in comparison to its neighbours Thailand and Viet Nam.10
During my time as an adopted resident ‘bong’11 in the oft-dubbed ‘Kingdom of Wonder’12, I particularly noticed large activity and interest in technology – specifically blockchain and cryptocurrencies - amongst the voraciously self-educated and entrepreneurial youth, mostly on a peer-to-peer (P2P) level. This activity level failed to subside despite the crypto ICO boom and crash of 2017-20181314 and it became very evident to me at the time that blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies had the potential to radically alter the trajectory of the entire country and assist its young population to grow and heal from the devastation it has endured.15
Where Boys Fear To Tread…
Whilst central banks and governments around the world have embraced ambiguity, dragged their feet, flip-flopped, floundered and otherwise treated blockchain and crypto with a very much ‘at arms length’ type approach, the National Bank of Cambodia has gone full throttle and thrown its full weight behind the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC)16 using distributed ledger technology (DLT) architecture – that is – blockchain technology.
With huge swathes of the population living in rural countryside areas17 and considered either unbanked or underbanked and a surge in the use of P2P payment systems across the country such as Wing18, this very much appears to be a huge step forward for a population that undoubtedly deserves some uplifting progress to match its unbridled friendliness.1920
One App To Rule Them All…
After an extensive trial period, the Japanese-developed Bakong21project by Soramitsu22 went into production with a uniquely non-natively digital CBDC. That is to say, the token represents commercial bank deposits of both the native Cambodian riel (KHR) and United States dollars (USD) currencies.23
A collaboration between Soramitsu and the NBC, Bakong is a next-generation Real-Time Gross Payments System that promotes financial inclusion through a friendly, intuitive yet powerful app on Android and iOS operating systems.24The system’s Byzantiane Fault Tolerance consensus algorithm25 can be used to send and receive money using any app or bank account for free to end users, with transactions executed and processed within 3-5 seconds..
According to its white paper26, Bakong negates the necessity for banks and PSIs to develop their own mobile application, with it very much taking up the mantle of ‘one app to rule them all’. Whilst PSIs are not obligated to join, Cambodia Association of Finance and Technology (CAFT) secretary-general and Pi Pay PLC CEO Tomas Pokorny state that industry professionals and regulators strongly recommend doing
“Whether an institution joins is subject to its technical readiness and many other strategic factors [but] in the long-term, it is to the industry’s benefit and infrastructure cost-saving for each financial company to be a part of it.”27
Designed to capitalize on already-existing infrastructure due to previous NBC investment, Bakong has been used nationwide since July 2019, with the Bakong system acting as a backbone for the Cambodian payment and settlement.28 Upgrading the legacy interbank transfer system (FAST) involved replacing its relational database with the Iroha distributed hyperledger.2930 It is reported that over 50,000 unique users across 20 financial institutions have since contributed to transactions exceeding $USD 20 million as of January 2021, winning a Central Banking Award in October 2020 in the process.31
The attitude to which Cambodia has generally embraced such technological innovation and utlised it with rermarkable ingenuity is summarised by Chea Serey, assistant governer of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC):
“We had nothing to lose […] It just so happened that we have problems that we want to solve and there is technology available. So it’s either you go for it – test it or try it, or you have nothing. So, there is nothing to lose, is what I am saying...”32
What’s Next?
With a consistent increase of users since the 2019 soft-launch, Soramitsu have improved the system on an iterative basis, rather than a sandbox environment that cannot simulate real market conditions. For Cambodia, this presents an intruiging opportunity to further enhance its current ambition to de-couple or ‘de-dollarize’ from the United States dollar (USD) in favour of Cambodian riel (KHR).3334
This success, along with the CBDC implementations by the likes of China’s CCP government and that proposed by India in respect of it’s Indian Rupee (INR) leads me to believe it is only a matter of time before fiat currencies are almost unequivocally represented digitally.
Indeed, cross-border CBDC research collaborations have been ongoing for some time. Most notably, that of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKM) and Bank of Thailand (BoT)3536, a six-bank working group consisting of the Bank of Canada, Bank of England (BoE), Bank of Japan, European Central Bank (ECB), the Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden), Swiss National Bank and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).
Undoubtedly, the most advanced efforts are that of the Monetary Authority of Singapore37 and the People’s Bank of China (PboC)38394041. In the case of the latter, it is seen as a pivotal step towards the internationalisation of the Chinese Renminbi/Yuan currency, in a challenge to the global dominance of the greenback.4243
“Bakong will eventually create financially inclusive ecosystems that all the stakeholders in the industry can benefit from.” - Shin Chang Moo, President, PPC Bank.44
Findings from a recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) suggests that Cambodia and the NBC are very much ahead of the curve in this respect. The survey found that 80% of the world’s central banks purported to be currently exploring implementation and/or utilisation of CBDCs, with 10% envisaging deployment of a digital currency within the next 3 years.45
The overall success of such an initiative would also encourage Hun Sen’s government to turn to blockchain as a means of tackling a wide variety of often-rampaging issues faced by ASEAN nations such as Cambodia, ranging from poverty, to underdevelopment, to natural disaster, disease such as dengue fever or malaria and more.4647
Indeed, Bakong is by no means the first nor last blockchain implementation in Cambodia. In 2018, Oxfam launched a pilot project called Blockchain for Livelihoods from Organic Cambodian Rice – also known as Blocrice – in the northern province of Preah Vihear.48 The aim was to rebalance trading power more favourably to the farmer, by facilitating immutable access to trading data such primary purchase price, trade volume, transportation method etc. Contracts between the farmers’ cooperatives and the exporters were managed on the blockchain, with cashless payments to farmers processed through bank accounts for recording purposes. Ultimately, this enabled farmers the potential to negotiate better deals with middle-men and other parties.49
Furthermore, the project aimed to run through to March 2019, potentially expanding to other provinces and encompassing a larger variety of products such as Cambodia’s famous Kampot black pepper50, nuts, maize and other exports.51
Such a project could potentially make a huge difference globally, not just in Cambodia. In any nation where the vast majority of the economy is dependant on agriculture, the natural disasters and extreme weather events those countries face can lead to immense devastation on both a local and wider national scale.52 Indeed, there has been vocalised support for utilising the blockchain to tackle some of the endemic issues pertaining to food and drug supplies in Asia, such as the case of Changsheng Biotechnology, which was found to have forged rabies vaccine documents, including product inspection records, for infant patients.53
Supply chains are a particularly attractive target for innovation in aiming to tackle corruption, illegality and mis-management across the globe, with the ‘G Coin’54 and Coca-Cola55 having demonstrated a motivation to tackle issues such as supply-chain tracking and forced labour with blockchain technology. Anyone who has visited or spent significant time in any developing, impoverished or ‘third world’ nation will immediately appreciate and understand the significant of such initiatives. We hear all too often about creating a more equitable, fairer, global society, yet for a myriad of complex reasons the world, for all of its current globalised inter-connectivity, still has remarkably fluctuating economies, opportunities and outcomes.
Whether its monopolisation of agriculture56 by companies such as Monsanto5758, a seemingly never-ending history of human rights abuses5960 by the likes of Apple616263, Adidas64 and Nike65, or the contraversial Bill Gates Foundation6667, the flow of multi-national corporations (MNCs), societally-ordained and/or self-proclaimed philanthropists, centralised global bodies such as WHO, WEF, UN, IMF), and other such interventionist protagonists has almost exclusively been from the ‘developed West’ to the ‘undeveloped East’. Usually, under the guise of some egalitarian mantra, but almost exclusively with the motive of maximising profits, whatever the cost.686970
Of course, this is not an attempt to categorically deride all interventions. I fervently believe that every community, culture, society and nation of people have a lot to learn from, and share with each-other. Having traversed over 35 countries and having lived in 6 countries across 3 continents thus far, I am also unequivocal in my opinion that this also optimises our efficiency, ingenuity, harmony, productivity and overall standards of living as a communal, socially reliant species exponentially.
However, blockchain and crypto technologies are offering new opportunities to rebalance global economies, by allowing developing, poorer countries to catch up with the rest – but crucially – on their own terms.71 Being able to effectively ‘bolt on’ a blockchain layer to existing infrastructure allows such nations to participate at the bleeding edge of technological innovation72 in a way that is cohesive with current infrastructure, specifically targeted to localised issues73, without a radical investment required to overhaul current systems or attempting to adopt culturally and/or socially alien practices. This gives them a powerful new weapon to wield in their arsenal in tackling both endemic historical issues74 and being equipped to face challenges of the present and future.75
Enterpay7677, K-Coin78, Lockcoin, KH Coin and most interestingly Serey79 (social media – essentially a fork of Steemit80) are all examples of blockchain and crypto projecs that have attracted some level of popularity (for a variety of both positive and negative reasons) throughout their lifespan in Cambodia. Alas, with many of these projects being Chinese or Japanese in origin, failing to host events in the local language of Khmer was a major flaw and setback in their Cambodian strategy. Always know your audience.
Coin Cafe & Bar opened in the capital city of Phnom Phenh – Cambodia’s first and only Bitcoin-themed bar and restaurant serving a blend of Khmer and Western dishes81, with its reopening featured on a blog for a local pepper farm, demonstrating just how uniquely powerful and integrative the Cambodian population see the potential they embrace.82
A whole raft of exciting start-ups arising from frequent technology roadshows across the country demonstrate that the nation is very much embracing the new opportunities offered by these technological innovations, and how they can assist the country to get back on its feet and regain lost ground since the Khmer Rouge.83
The scope of utility of these projects is impressively broad, from the bookings/reservations service of SPARE84, unexploded ordinance excavation robotics of Demine Robotics85, bus travel portal of CamboTicket86 and BookMeBus87, and Goama88, a Myanmar-based startup which has built a Netflix-for-mobile gaming platform bereft of in-game advertisements, fees and purchases.
With a total population of ~570 million people, a relatively young demographic and high internet connectivity89, South East Asia (SEA) is an ever-increasingly attractive proposition for companies, investors, developers and programmers alike in the blockchain, crypto, Fintech and other technological industries. According to the e-Conomy SEA 2019 Survey conducted by Google, Temasek and Bain + Co., there are a total of 360 million internet users across the SEA region, with 90% of that Internet access facilitated via mobile devices.90
Crypto trends in Cambodia are very much catalysed by areas such as financial payments and remittance, supply chain in agriculture and transport91. However, the start-up roadshows such as the aforementioned demonstrated a confidence in blockchain technology and a motivation to integrate and utilise it in a whole spectrum of innovative and traditional means.
With approximately 4.3 billion population living across Asia being ever-increasingly better connected through 5G infrastructure, a slew of ‘unicorn’ businesses (businesses valued at more than USD $1 billion)92, it is my belief that the long-term trend of strong growth for Asia will continue across the region despite COVID-19. This brings with it the wealth of new investors seeking to pounce on the myriad of opportunities that present themselves in such huge markets.
Cambodia is uniquely positioned in terms of the ease to which employers, investors, digital nomads and the like can relocate, with its relatively painless visa application process making it one of the easiest countries in the world to relocate to.93
Personally, I have missed uncountable number of things about living in the ‘Kingdom of Wonder’ since my departure. From the small daily interactions to the general philosophy and temperament of its people and their approach and perspective on daily life, happiness and well-being, and have longed for a return at some point almost as much as I yearn for the Cambodian people and its extremely young population94 to have the bright and prosperous future they thoroughly deserve. Hopefully, they continue on with this forward-thinking approach to tackling traditional and modern issues and re-write the wrongs of their dark history with a new chapter that truly embraces and reflects the character, strength and forward-thinking nature of the Khmer Empire.
1‘Khmer Empire’, published by Rodrigo Quijada Plubins (2013) in World History Encyclopedia, available at: https://www.ancient.eu/Khmer_Empire/ 2'Khmer Rouge’, published in Britannica, available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khmer-Rouge
3‘Preah Sihanouk province to become special economic zone’ (2020) by Khmer Times, published by Bangkok Post (online), available at: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1853939/
4'Encountering Westport Sihanoukville’, https://xihumingyuan.com/en/westport/
5'What Happened to Xi’s ‘Project of the Century’?’ (2020) by James Kynge and Jonathan Wheatley, published in Financial Review (online), available at: https://www.afr.com/world/asia/what-happened-to-xi-s-project-of-the-century-20201214-p56ng7
6‘One Belt One Road Initiative of China: Implication for Future of Global Development’ by Md Nazirul Islam Sarker, Md Altab Hossin, Xiaohua Yin and Md Kamruzzaman Sarkar, available at: https://file.scirp.org/pdf/ME_2018041715192752.pdf
7'What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative?’ by Lily Kuo and Niko Kommenda, published in The Guardian, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/jul/30/what-china-belt-road-initiative-silk-road-explainer
8'China’s Belt & Road Initiative: What you need to know’ by Helena Ong (2020), published on The Tempest online, available at: https://thetempest.co/2020/12/16/news/china-belt-road-initiative/
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10'The Richest And Poorest Countries of Southeast Asia’ by Oishimaya Sen Nag in Economics, WorldAtlas online, available at: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-richest-and-poorest-countries-of-southeast-asia.html
11A Khmer word for ‘brother’/’sister’ and a term of affection, endearment and respect: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/cambodia/articles/11-beautiful-words-to-make-you-fall-in-love-with-the-khmer-language/
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17‘Cambodia Demographics’ data compiled and published by WorldOMeter, available at: https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/cambodia-demographics/
18‘Wing: Cambodia’s Leading Mobile Banking Services Provider’: https://www.wingmoney.com/en/
19'The World’s Friendliest Countries Revealed’ by Jenny Southan (2018) published in Forbes (online), available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennysouthan/2018/03/21/the-worlds-friendliest-countries-revealed/
20'The Top 10 Most Welcoming Countries’ published on InterNations.org, available at: https://www.internations.org/guide/global/the-top-10-most-welcoming-countries-39411
21'Project Bakong Next Generation Payment System’ white paper (2020) published by National Bank of Cambodia and Soramitsu, available at: https://soramitsu.co.jp/bakong/whitepaper
22'Soramitsu – Designing a Better World Through Decentralized Technologies’, official website: https://soramitsu.co.jp/
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24Soramitsu – Designing a Better World Through Decentralized Technologies’, official website: https://soramitsu.co.jp/centralbanking
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26'Project Bakong Next Generation Payment System’ white paper (2020) published by National Bank of Cambodia and Soramitsu, available at: https://www.nbc.org.kh/download_files/research_papers/khmer/NBC_BAKONG_White_Paper.pdf
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71'Can Blockchain Help In Developing Countries?’ (2020) by Toshendra Kumar Sharma, published by Blockchain Council (online), available at: https://www.blockchain-council.org/blockchain/how-can-blockchain-help-in-developing-countries/
72'Could the Blockchain Empower the Poor and Unlock Global Growth?’ (2016) by Michael Casey, published by Techonomy (online), available at: https://techonomy.com/2016/03/blockchain-global-growth/
73 ‘Blockchain Can Help the Poor Access the Global Economy’ (2017) by Paul Robertson, published by Borgen Magazine (online), available at: https://www.borgenmagazine.com/blockchain-can-help-the-poor/
74'Three Ways Blockchain Can Help The Poor’ (2017) by Rebecca Yu, published by Borgen Project (online), available at: https://borgenproject.org/ways-blockchain-can-help-the-poor/
75'Can Blockchain Help The World’s Poorest?’ (2018) by Saheed Hassan, published by Blockchain Magazine (online), available at: https://blockchainmagazine.net/can-blockchain-help-the-worlds-poorest/
76'Entapay: How The Cambodia National Cryptocurrency Works’ (2018) by Bitcoin Exchange Guide News Team, published by Bitcoin Exchange Guide (online), available at: https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/entapay/
77'Blockchain event fails to deliver on title’ (2018) by Robin Sniess, published by The Phnom Penh Post (online), available at: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/blockchain-event-fails-deliver-title
78'Cambodia Issues Warning Against Unlicensed Cryptocurrency Trading’ (2018) reported by CNN with credit to Mark Emem, published by Testboo (online), available at: https://testboo.com/crypto/cambodia-issues-warning-against-unlicensed-cryptocurrency-trading/
79Serey official website: https://serey.io/
80Steemit official website: https://steemit.com/
81CoinCafe and Bar official Facebook business page: https://www.facebook.com/coincafeandbar
82'Coin Cafe and Bar Reopening Party’ published on Kiri Farms blog on Life in Cambodia, available at: https://www.kirifarms.com/life-in-cambodia-blog/coin-cafe-bar-re-opening-party
83'These four startups show why Cambodia’s ecosystem is brimming with promise’ published by E27 (online), available at: https://e27.co/cambodia-has-chosen-goama-to-represent-them-at-echelon-asia-summit-2018-20180425/
84SPARE Asia official website: https://www.spareasia.com/
85Demine Robotics official website: https://deminerobotics.com/
86Cambo Ticket official website: https://www.camboticket.com/
87Book Me Bus official website: https://bookmebus.com/
88Goama official website: https://goama.com/
89'Adoption of blockchain and crypto in Southeast Asia’ by Karin Chang, published by Blocks99.com (online), available at: https://blocks99.com/features/adoption-of-blockchain-and-crypto-in-southeast-asia/
90'eConomy SEA 2019 – Swipe up and to the right: Southeast Asia’s $100 billion Internet economy’ (2019) report, published by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, available at: https://www.blog.google/documents/47/SEA_Internet_Economy_Report_2019.pdf
91'GCR Trend Update 2020: Crypto Trends in Cambodia’ (2020) by Global Coin Research Team, published by GlobalCoinResearch.com, available at: https://globalcoinresearch.com/2020/03/18/crypto-trends-in-cambodia/
92‘Why Asia Is The Next Great Growth Region To Invest In’ (2021) by Royston Yang, published by The Smart Investor (online), available at: https://davidkuo.thesmartinvestor.com.sg/2021/01/21/why-asia-is-the-next-great-growth-region-to-invest-in/
93‘The 5 easiest countries to move to in Asia’ (2018) by Eben Diskin, published by Matador Network (online), available at: https://matadornetwork.com/read/easiest-countries-move-asia/
94‘Cambodia’s Young Population’ statistical data published by Graph To Chart, available at: https://en.graphtochart.com/population/cambodia-age00to14.php
