Israel’s Government Is Considering A National Cryptocurrency



 

After several other countries, Israel is joining the national cryptocurrencies wagon. According to recent news, the Israelis are considering offering a national cryptocurrency which would correspond in value to the physical shekels.

The information comes from sources close to the Finance Ministry. According to them, the black market in Israel is approximately 22% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). This means that a national digital currency would make the black market transactions easier than ever before.

The legislation would also reduce the amount of physical cash in the economy and would be a law against the (low) paying wages in cash. Many know that Israel is a country with many tech startups and a scene that has been blossoming over the past few years.

One of them is Colu, an Israel-based blockchain wallet app that took part in the conversation with the Israeli government in relation to the pursuit of the new digital currency. In an interview wiht Cointelegraph, Colu’s VP said:

“The Israeli regulators have been looking into digital currencies for a while, we were even part of this conversation. If this initiative becomes a reality, Colu will be happy to collaborate…as we believe digital currencies are the future of money.”

The process of legalizing this digital currency is getting underway and the pressure for this kind of adoption is high, according to some recent comments from the Israeli Prime Minister. However, the main fears are related to the potential difficulty in evading taxation – however, the digital shekel would record all transactions by mobile and make this practically impossible.