Mauritius to embrace Blockchain Technology
First published in Appleby’s Mauritius Newsletter, August 2019.
The adoption of blockchain will represent a total shift from the traditional business dealings in Mauritius, by placing trust and authority in a decentralised network.
Blockchain Technology
The Mauritius Government is supportive of blockchain technology and initially implemented a sandbox licence recognising crypto currency as a digital asset. The recent budget also focuses on the promotion of FinTech services, helping to establish Mauritius’ position as a leading FinTech hub in the African region.
The challenges of making Mauritius a FinTech hub in the region
The prospect of using blockchain technology to store corporate documents of entities, title deeds as well as financial and transactional documents will enhance the financial services sector in Mauritius by ensuring timely access to inherently trustworthy information. The Government’s support financially for this is promising and will include the introduction of a new licence for FinTech Service providers, as well as steps to encourage the self-regulation for FinTech activities in consultation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to further comply with the global contribution against money laundering and terrorism. Considerable technological investment and appropriate employee training will also need to be implemented in the coming months.
At present, investment in Digital Assets and Cryptocurrencies is unregulated, which may cause uncertainty within the general public in respect of blockchain technology,. This ought to be addressed by the Government in order to increase awareness and sensitise the general public in connection with the technology and its overall benefits.
