The Economist's pick for the most progressive country in 2019 is partnering with Cardano to drive blockchain applications.

The official partner of Cardano (ADA), EMURGO, has established a blockchain strategic task force locally in collaboration with the Uzbekistan National Project Management Agency (NAPM), technology consulting firm KOBEA Group, and investment company Infinity Blockchain Holdings. EMURGO will lead the development of legal frameworks related to Security Token Offerings (STOs) and Security Token Exchange (STX).

• EMURGO to Develop Cardano's Blockchain Applications Across Various Sectors in Uzbekistan
• Cardano Scheduled for February Hard Fork to Implement Ouroboros Byzantine Fault Tolerance Protocol (OBFT)

Driving Uzbekistan into the Crypto Era

Uzbekistan, which was named the country with the most significant improvement by The Economist magazine in 2019 after ending over two decades of strongman rule in 2016, has been actively enhancing its competitiveness by adopting blockchain technology.

According to the official blog of EMURGO, the organization has established a strategic blockchain task force in Uzbekistan to drive the country into the digital economy era, with widespread adoption of the Cardano blockchain network and distributed ledger solutions.

A report indicates that EMURGO aims to expand the legal framework and encourage the implementation of Cardano blockchain in infrastructure, and will establish academies to educate Uzbek students on distributed ledger technology.

Additionally, EMURGO and KOBEA will provide government consulting services for various blockchain-based projects, including digital asset banking services, trading, and blockchain education. EMURGO expressed its enthusiasm for the collaboration:

Uzbekistan is very willing to integrate blockchain technology, and we are delighted to provide consulting services to Uzbek authorities, establish educational and academic services at the University of Uzbekistan, and support the development of future professionals to build blockchain infrastructure.

Cardano Plans OBFT Hard Fork in February

During a live broadcast on January 17th, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated that the blockchain is expected to undergo a planned hard fork in mid-February.

According to Hoskinson, there is a "fairly high degree of certainty" that the Ouroboros Byzantine Fault Tolerance Protocol (OBFT) will be implemented as planned, transitioning the consensus mechanism to the Ouroboros BFT consensus and formally shifting to Proof of Stake (PoS).

Hoskinson mentioned:

We are still in discussions with our exchange partners to ensure all infrastructure is ready for this, and we expect the OBFT hard fork to take place in mid-February.

As of the time of writing, the native token of Cardano, ADA, has not experienced significant fluctuations due to various positive developments, but has risen by around 7.7% in the past two days, currently priced at $0.045, with a market capitalization of $1.179 billion, ranking 11th in market capitalization.

Related Reading

• Cardano Launches AdaPay, Supporting up to 35 Fiat Currencies
• Uzbekistan Announces Priority Creation of "National Mining Pool" and Introduction of Licensed Exchanges in 2020

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