The Autonomous Region of Madeira will soon create its own cryptocurrency. The digital currency will be studied and developed by the new Research Center of the University of Madeira, Ocean, presented this Tuesday, 24th of May.
The project is part of a partnership established between the company ‘Naoris Protocol’, in the area of cybersecurity, and the Ocean Research Center. The technology company founded by the Portuguese David Carvalho will invest 60 million euros to support, at a technological and security level, the future Madeiran cryptocurrency that may adopt the designation of ‘Ocean’.
Madeira will thus be the second island in the world to implement a cryptocurrency as its currency. The CEO of ‘Naoris Protocol’, David Carvalho explains that the new crypto will boost the local economy, facilitating transactions and allowing money to remain in the Region.
‘Ocean’ will have a value equivalent to the Euro and will be managed by the Regional Government of Madeira. According to David Carvalho, its use will be “very simple”.
Scott MacAndrew, President of Cypher by Holt | Global Digital Banking, which will support the implementation of the new digital currency in the archipelago, highlights that “people need not be afraid of cryptocurrency”, given its security and potential.
In Madeira, digital currency will be used in various services, including hotels, restaurants and travel. “Madeira has the ability to have its own cryptocurrency, which can be equated with the euro and the most diverse currencies”, emphasizes Scott MacAndrew.
The new research center is part of the European program INCORE – ‘Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education in Europe’s Outermost Regions’, which aims to stimulate innovation and the entrepreneurial capacity of Higher Education Institutions in the outermost regions of Europe, namely the Instituto Superior Técnico, the University of Madeira, the European University of the Canary Islands, the University of La Reunion, the La Palma Research Center and Trisolaris Advanced Technologies.