Blockchain

Nou Vada and Rex Paura first met in 2000 through Nou’s older sister who was Rex’s classmate at school. The second time they met four years later, Rex was working for the World Bank as a program officer and 13-year-old Nou was in Grade Eight.

At the time, the World Bank was running Tingim Yut Kompetisen, a program that encouraged young Papua New Guineans to submit innovative ideas for potential funding.

Nou and his siblings decided to enter the competition with an internet café ‘start-up’ idea and met with Rex regularly to seek guidance.

In May, US-based blockchain firm, Ledger Atlas, inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Port Moresby government for the company to design the operational guidelines for PNG’s planned blockchain-focused special economic zone (SEZ).

As the country’s first SEZ of this kind, it is intended to serve as a global financial centre for blockchain activity, enabling tech solutions to be developed in an incubator-like environment. The Finschhafen district on the north-east coast of the Morobe Province has been proposed as a suitable location.