11/22/22, 4:29 PM Junta weaponises digital banking transition to starve resistance funding | Frontier Myanmar uses a digital kyat – to receive funds both from inside the country and from overseas. “Since last year, all our KBZPay accounts have been exposed by military supporters and reported to the [junta] for closure. We migrated to WavePay to receive funds by using secret codes, until this new CBM policy was introduced,” he said. “We’ve since opened NUGPay accounts to receive funds in an alternative way. There are agents and fees to pay depending on the transaction you make, and it works via a QR code which is generated by the payee and scanned by the beneficiary,” he added. NUGPay was launched by the NUG’s Ministry of Finance and Investment on June 26 as a pilot project, with up to 10,000 users able to join. According to an NUG announcement on August 2, 5,000 users have opened accounts so far. Since the new digital kyat uses blockchain technology, the military council cannot trace transactions, and users can top up money into NUGPay through its official agents. As the use of QR codes suggests, there is no need for an account holder to ever reveal a phone or account number linking them to their wallet. However, the junta has outlawed NUGPay, putting anyone with the application on their phone in danger of arrest. This might inhibit the growth of the platform as a safe, efficient funding medium for the resistance. Restrictions on ATM withdrawals put in place by the junta have caused more people to rely on mobile wallet transactions. (Frontier) ‘I’ve given up’ While the junta may be primarily targeting resistance financing, many ordinary citizens and businesses have been locked out of their accounts. When they complain, banks and mobile money providers often provide them with contradictory explanations, or claim to be unable to help, suggesting they contact the CBM, which rarely if ever responds. “I’ve been using KBZPay for a long time – with the same SIM code, under the same registered name – but I can’t transfer anything,” said Ma Nan, a woman in Lashio in Shan State, about the freezing of her account last month. “I spoke to the call centre who, after checking all my info, said everything was correct and that it had been a mistake to shut down my account. They told me to email the CBM, who’ve yet to reply,” she told Frontier. https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/junta-weaponises-digital-banking-transition-to-starve-resistance-funding/ 4/9