- Paraguay Launches Blockchain Chamber, to Promote Sovereign Blockchain Innovation for Government, Finance, Commerce, Civil and Military Applications.
- Legaledger, built on Hyperledger and Besu, eliminates transaction gas fees for military and legal operations under law 6.822/21.
Paraguay has taken a major step into the blockchain arena by establishing the Paraguayan Blockchain Chamber, aimed at promoting financial innovation on a sovereign blockchain. The chamber’s spokesperson and director, Ricardo Prieto, discussed the initiative’s main focus: developing blockchain solutions for both the public and private sectors, including government, financial, commercial, civilian and military ecosystems.
The project, called Legaledger, is built on the Hyperledger and Besu platforms, marking it as the world’s first third-generation blockchain network with national sovereignty. It uniquely offers a gas fee waiver for transactions involving military and legal security, in accordance with the Paraguayan Digital Law 6.822/21.
Prieto highlighted Legaledger’s innovative fractal architecture design, which is the first to use a dual blockchain mechanism (Hyperledger Fabric + Besu) and has the capability for regional and global replication.
“The Blockchain Network has an innovative fractal architecture design, the first with a dual blockchain mechanism (Hyperledger Fabric + Besu) and regional and global replication capacity, achieving frictionless interoperability between all countries,” the director explains.
This design facilitates seamless interoperability between countries. He referred to a recent report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on the risks and uncertainties associated with Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), highlighting the challenge banks face in conducting due diligence and supervision due to the dependence on third-party blockchains. The BIS report suggests working with sovereign blockchain networks to provide legal certainty within a country.
In 2021, Paraguay passed Law No. 6,822/21 on Trust Services for Electronic Transactions, Electronic Documents and Transferable Electronic Documents – also called the Digital Law on the Second Floor.
“With the law, we started designing Legaledger (powered by Hyperledger Foundation + HSM), the first Blockchain network with national sovereignty, without gas payments, with legal certainty and with the ability to be replicated in any country in the world with perfect interoperability. Frictions between all participating countries.”
With this law Paraguay began designing Legaledger, powered by the Hyperledger Foundation and HSM, creating the first national sovereignty blockchain network that requires no gas payments, provides legal certainty, and can replicate in any country with perfect interoperability.
“The idea of creating a third-generation blockchain network stems from the need to provide legal certainty to procedures and transactions performed on blockchain, something that is practically impossible in global blockchain networks.”
Another benefit of this initiative is the digitalization of governmental, civil and military legal proceedings, and the tokenization of financial and real-world assets (RWA), all with absolute legal certainty. This effectively eliminates identity theft and fraud risks, such as rug pulling, Prieto said.
Since the start of the project in 2021, there have been challenges, especially in tokenizing real estate. Discussions with legal advisors revealed potential fraud risks in the approach, highlighting the distinction between possession and ownership.
The public registry, which involves notaries and others to secure transactions on paper, provides legal certainty for property ownership, which is not guaranteed by public blockchain tokens alone.
Legaledger is designed to be fractal and can be deployed across companies, conglomerates, states and countries, maintaining interoperability for what is called sequencing, publishing procedures or transactions, including international operations.
“No country in the world has the digital law that Paraguay has (Law 6.822/21), but in many countries apartments and other physical assets were tokenized that did not actually link real rights to the tokens created on public blockchains, as we know that this is very easy. Each country has its Public Property Registry Agency, in which notaries and others participate, to control the operation carried out on paper and to provide legal certainty regarding the ownership of the object in question.”
To perfect tokenization with legal certainty, a unique digital law is needed to enable the digitization of rights to tangible and intangible assets on a sovereign Blockchain network. The resulting tokens must be managed and secured within the network and can be bought, sold or transferred digitally to anyone or any institution worldwide with legal certainty and without contradiction.
Ultimately, countries that implement a sovereign blockchain network with legal certainty will become an international digital jurisdiction, meaning the country will achieve a high level of procedural digitalization and asset tokenization within a legal framework and scope of application without a doubt, concluded the spokesperson of the Paraguayan Blockchain Chamber.