Cagayan Economic Zone Opens DAO Registry to Blockchain Businesses
CEZA assured that the DAOs that will register will receive advantages such as tax incentives and other fiscal benefits.
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Editing by Nathaniel Cajuday
- The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), a special economic zone established in 1995, announced its newly-installed registry for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO).
- CEZA also assured that DAOs registered with it will receive many of the same benefits as other businesses located there, such as tax incentives and other fiscal incentives.
- All registrations of DAOs will be done on a public ledger powered by a blockchain, which will enable enterprises to track and monitor the status of any application, fund any application or renewal entirely through the DAO registry system, and get their needed documents in a timely manner.
Following its initiatives to adopt blockchain technology, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) recently announced that it is set to launch a registry for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), aiming to further the actions of the economic zone to become the blockchain capital of Asia and even worldwide.
A DAO is an autonomous and transparent community-led entity with no central authority that operates businesses or initiatives through a blockchain, digital asset, or web3 industry. (Read more: What is DAO? Decentralized Autonomous Organization Guide)
According to CEZA, its goal in launching a DAO registry is “to become the best place in the world for this business activity, besting all the cities and countries in the space.”
“In aiming to become the world’s number one DAO registry, CEZA is not only after an influx of DAO registrations. What ultimately matters is that these DAO registrations become an entry point into building a full-fledged blockchain ecosystem,” it stated.
Also, the three-decade-old economic zone explained that one of the advantages of a DAO joining a registry is that it eliminates the existence of these organizations in a legal gray area as it incorporates DAOs by giving them legal protection, operational benefits, and more.
The other current DAO registries in the world include Malta, Switzerland, Estonia, Gibraltar, and Wyoming, United States—currently the number one destination for DAOs seeking registration.
Meanwhile, in onboarding DAOs into its registry, CEZA noted that the process can occur organically, citing how organizations will “want to do business in the locality that their DAO is registered in”:
“The opening of a DAO registry in CEZA would thus lead to rapid growth in blockchain businesses that operate out of CEZA.”
According to CEZA, its involvement can also be facilitated primarily in its zone, assuring that the DAOs registered with it will receive many of the same benefits as other businesses located there, such as tax incentives and other fiscal incentives.
“While a DAO registry is an achievement on its own, having and maintaining one is also strategically important. Persuading any enterprise to do business in your jurisdiction is difficult, but making this case when the business is already incorporated there is not only easier but a natural progression of events,” said CEZA Secretary Jamie R. Escaño.
Accordingly, CEZA highlighted that by achieving this goal, the zone will be “a more attractive destination for registration than other markets with DAO registries.”
“This challenge is easier said than done. As pioneers in blockchain legislation, these markets did their best to enact progressive policies and frameworks that can potentially stand the test of time,” the special economic zone stressed.
Consequently, it emphasized that they still have severe gaps to address within their frameworks, such as the cost-prohibitive fees associated with filing a DAO and the time horizon of obtaining a DAO registration—which requires speed.
“In other markets, the issue is neither cost nor speed. Some jurisdictions still hold too much liability on the senior officers of a DAO or are bestowed with extraordinary abilities that make businesses uncomfortable, such as the ability to completely dissolve a DAO in the event of perceived wrongdoing,” CEZA clarified.
On the other hand, CEZA took advantage of its late entry into the industry by stating that it would be able to address all of the issues that have made businesses reluctant to register or operate:
“It would not make sense to fix these issues using any technology other than blockchain.”
So far, CEZA has said that all registrations of DAOs will be done on a public ledger powered by a blockchain, which will enable enterprises to track and monitor the status of any application, fund any application or renewal entirely through the DAO registry system, and get their needed documents in a timely manner. As per CEZA, these changes will aid the zone in quickly shooting up the rankings as the preferred registry of choice for DAOs.
“By launching this DAO registry, CEZA will attract more blockchain businesses. In time, this critical mass of enterprises will be the selling point for more of its peers. Eventually, businesses will come primarily for the zone’s branding as the Crypto Valley of the World: They know that they’ll meet other innovators in the space right here,” Escaño concluded.
Recently, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile complimented the initiatives of CEZA for its digital adoption, especially in integrating blockchain technology.
Prior to this, CEZA’s administrator, Raul Lambino, and Japan’s Minister for Science and Technology Policy, Naokazu Takemoto, had a meeting in 2020 to discuss financial technology in both countries, especially around the topics of cryptocurrency, blockchain, and security tokens.
This article is published on BitPinas: Cagayan Economic Zone Opens DAO Registry to Blockchain Businesses
Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.
