Canada’s Graph Blockchain Ink Deal with South Korea 

Graph Blockchain Inc., a blockchain technology firm based in Richmond, Canada, has inked a strategic partnership deal with the Ministry of Transportation in Seoul, South Korea, to enable the former to develop a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that would enable Seoul to store traffic data, as part of its Smart City project, according to a press release on June 24, 2019. 

DLT for Smart City 

According to a GlobeNewswire press release, Graph Blockchain has secured a contract with the Ministry of Transportation in Seoul through its in-country partner.

Specifically, the contract which is worth roughly $55,000 Canadian dollar ($41,675.15), is aimed at launching a blockchain pilot for the storage of traffic data, as part of Seoul’s Smart City initiative.

Since announcing plans to transform Seoul into a blockchain-powered Smart City worth 123.3 billion Korean won (about $108 million) earlier in October 2018, Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul has been working hard to make it work.

Reportedly, the Blockchain Urban Plan which has been scheduled to get developed between 2018-2022 will include 14 public services in five key areas, including certificate issuance, labour welfare, vehicle history management and more. 

At the time, the Mayor also hinted at allocating about 60 billion Korean won (about $53 million) for the construction of two massive complexes to house 200 blockchain firms by 2021.  

Park Still Bullish 

As reported by BTCManager earlier in May 2019, Park who was present at the Korea Future Forum and Blockchain Tech Show in Seoul, made it clear that he’s still very much interested in integrating new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and DLT into the operations of the city, in a bid to deliver the best services to residents.  

Commenting on the collaboration, Jeff Stevens, CEO of Graph Blockchain expressed his excitement over the strategic partnership, adding that it represents a huge opportunity for the company to contribute its bit to Seoul’s Smart City initiative.

Stevens said:

“We look forward to delivering a robust solution that will streamline and protect data for Seoul’s smart city initiatives. The team is doing a great job securing new business opportunities with multinational corporations and government agencies, this will provide a strong foundation as we continue to search for gaming opportunities that will expand and diversify the Company for our shareholders.”