Myanmar’s NUG looks to cryptocurrencies in bid to raise US$1 billion to challenge junta
- A global fundraising effort has sprung up since the junta seized control last year, with the shadow NUG government seeking to raise US$1 billion
- With Myanmar’s banking system tightly controlled by the military, activists are using unofficial channels to ensure the money escapes the regime
Every weekend, the Myanmar diaspora in Singapore congregates at the Peninsula Plaza for news – and a taste – of home.
Customers stream into a pop-up food stall graced by a life-size image of Myanmar’s deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, where volunteers sell home-made delicacies such as tea-leaf salad and Mohinga, a rice-noodle and fish soup.
May Kyaw Soe Nyunt, the stall’s owner, says she takes in about S$5,000 (US$3,700) in a weekend, with all the funds sent to her homeland to help those having to endure life under the regime. “I want the world to know people in Myanmar are suffering,” she said through a translator.
Singapore is one link in a global fundraising effort that’s sprung up since the army seized control in Myanmar a year ago. With the economy in meltdown and no official international assistance, the exiled government is seeking to raise US$1 billion to look after its supporters and maintain its challenge to the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw.
But there’s a problem: the country’s banking system is tightly controlled by the junta, which designates the democratic National Unity Government (NUG) a terrorist group. So activists and the shadow government alike have to resort to unofficial channels to ensure the money escapes the regime’s clutches – and for the NUG, that includes embracing cryptocurrencies.
It has already recognised Tether, a digital coin intended as a proxy to the US dollar, as a means to speed up its trade, services and payment systems. But the NUG is prepared to go further in defiance of the Central Bank of Myanmar, which banned the use of all digital currencies in 2020 and threatened imprisonment and fines for violations.
“When the time is right and if it’s needed for our revolution, we will definitely expand the list of our approved cryptocurrencies,” Tin Tun Naing, the NUG minister of planning, finance and investment, said in an interview.
He cited Bitcoin and Litecoin, saying “we won’t hesitate to do it” if the NUG sees a need. “Many institutions and organisations around the world are really eager to help us in this revolution.”