Singapore to Offer Seed Funding to Enterprises to Boost Blockchain Adoption

The government of Singapore will offer financial incentives in order to grow the blockchain ecosystem in the country.

According to The Business Times, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) which falls under Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information will offer seed funding to players in the media and ICT sector. This is with a view of incentivizing them to develop platforms which link special interest groups in the blockchain space, solution providers as well as other related groups.

In order to obtain seed funding from the IMDA, the platforms to be developed must meet certain criteria and this includes a capacity to connect with other blockchain communities spread across the globe.

Expanding Beyond Finance

Per the IMDA, blockchain adoption has largely been restricted to the financial sector and there are few, if any, large-scale successful cases that exist outside banking and insurance. In IMDA’s view, this has hampered the adoption of blockchain in other sectors due to lack of interoperability.

The IMDA said in a statement, “This has resulted in the industry showing signs of siloed, specialised blockchain solutions rather than interoperable network blockchains, which would deliver the most benefit to users.”

To reach its goal of becoming a smart nation, Singapore has come up with various other initiatives aimed at boosting the country’s blockchain ecosystem. Earlier in the year, the IMDA launched the Blockchain Challenge whose goal is to incentivize firms to develop pioneering solutions that go beyond financial applications using distributed ledger technology.

Through the Blockchain Challenge, participating firms are required to come up with either Proofs-of-concept or Minimum Viable Products that solve particular problems.