It’s been a big week for blockchain in Korea’s public sector.

First up, Korea Post, the national postal service, announced on June 5 that it had teamed up with local blockchain company Coinplug and IT company NHN to develop a blockchain-based payment system. Korea Post will try the new system in the southwestern city of Naju and, if it takes, expand it to other regions.

The postal service is also considering blockchain-based insurance and remittance services too.

Then we have Korea’s largest power provider, KEPCO, signing a deal with two local power suppliers to create a pilot blockchain-powered system for transacting Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs.

RECs are a tradable commodity that represents, in the words of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the “property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation.“ They create a market similar to carbon trading, but instead of carbon emissions, kilowatt hours are traded.

By using blockchain to power the REC system, KEPCO and its partners hope to improve the pilot’s transparency and efficiency.

Lastly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will join the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute in launching a pilot service for diplomatic offices that uses blockchain to verify the authenticity of notarized financial power of attorney documents.

The pilot will launch at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Japan and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles, with the participation of 14 Korean banks.

The ministry hopes the blockchain solution will streamline the existing time-consuming authentication process, which has proven to be quite a hassle for Koreans residing overseas.

It should be noted that there is no indication as of yet that ICON or ICONLOOP are involved in the above-mentioned projects. Rest assured, we’ll keep you updated if we hear different.

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