The Caribbean island’s government may accept native Tron tokens such as TRX and USDT for public payments including taxes, under a new ordinance.
Blockchain network Tron has entered into an agreement with the government of Dominica to issue a national fan token to promote the Caribbean island’s heritage and tourism, according to an announcement dated Oct. 7.
Under the agreement, the Tron protocol is the island nation’s “designated national blockchain infrastructure.” An ordinance issued on the same day shows that the Tron network’s native digital tokens were granted “statutory status,” meaning they are now authorized for use as a medium of exchange in the country.
The government may accept Tron governance tokens such as TRX, BTT and JST, as well as stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar on Tron’s TRC20 protocol such as USDT and USDD, as payment for public services including tax payments, the order says. Private enterprises can also accept these cryptocurrencies as payment “where necessary infrastructure for transaction is available.”
With the endorsement, Tron is also set to issue Dominica Coin (DMC), a blockchain-based fan token to “help promote Dominica’s global fanfare for its natural heritage and tourism attractions,” according to the government.
It is unclear how Tron was chosen for the task, but the “open and cost-effective nature” of the protocol will play a “vital role to better integrate Small Island Developing States like Dominica into the global economy in the future,” Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a press statement.
Tron founder Justin Sun stepped down as the network’s CEO to become Carribbean nation Grenada’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization last year. He said at the time that he would focus on legitimizing crypto in Latin American countries.
In Dominica, the exchange rates between Tron’s native tokens and the East Caribbean dollar (XCD) will be freely determined by the market, while exchanges between the tokens and the XCD will not be subject to capital gains tax, the ordinance says.
CoinDesk has reached out to the Dominica government and Tron for comment.