At the beginning of this year, the authorities of the island state of Palau announced that they were creating the world’s first program called «digital residency». According to this program, a residence permit is provided to everyone, at a price of $300. Once the payment is made, the application is approved, and the user receives an ID card and a virtual version in the form of NFT.
To extend the residency, you need to pay an additional $ 100 per year. After the program was announced, more than 60,000 applicants were announced in the list. Almost half of them were from the USA, the rest from the EU and Asia.
However, such a program has been criticized by the government. They believe that it is necessary to carefully check all applications first, and only then give approval for them. There is a high probability that such a program can be used by attackers.
Initially, the program was intended to support the country’s economy, which was severely affected by the pandemic and needed financial resources. Palau is not the only state that is trying to attract investors related to cryptocurrencies and digital technologies. There are other countries that are trying to develop infrastructure for the virtual economy.
