Myanmar's anti-junta group accepts Tether as currency

YANGON • A parallel government led by the supporters of Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has recognised Tether as an official currency for local use after the group began fund raising for a campaign that seeks to topple the military regime.

The National Unity Government (NUG) officially accepts Tether, a cryptocurrency meant to be a dollar proxy, for "domestic use to make it easy and speed up the current trade, services and payment systems", NUG Finance Minister Tin Tun Naing said on Sunday. No other details were given.

The NUG is an alliance of leaders from the ousted civilian government and pro-democracy groups. While the group does not control territory or hold office in Myanmar, it declared war against the junta in September, which has led to an escalation of battles between the military regime and local resistance groups.

The shadow government's cryptocurrency adoption underscores its defiance against the Central Bank of Myanmar, which decreed all digital currencies illegal in May last year and threatened violators with imprisonment and fines.

Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, where daily price swings are typical, each Tether is supposed to be backed by one dollar and is therefore known as a stablecoin.

The NUG is not only looking at cryptocurrencies. It raised US$9.5 million (S$13 million) in the first 24 hours from a sale of what has been marketed as the "Spring Revolution Special Treasury Bonds" to the Myanmar diaspora globally to help topple the current government headed by General Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader.

The bond appears to be structured like a direct lending instrument. The sales were stopped for a week until Dec 6 due to high demand and there has been little detail on how much has been raised so far.

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