Nabilah S
On Wednesday, July 25, Palau launched its inaugural electronic gaming exhibition and tournament, marking a highlight of a two-day fintech conference held at the West Plaza Hotel.
“Fintech, short for financial technology, represents a sector where numerous technologies converge with finance,” explained Steven Rdechor, who hosted the event on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.
The gaming tournament showcased popular titles such as Tekken 8 and PUBG.
“It was great to meet new people and see so many young individuals engaging with this program. I truly believe there’s a promising future for events like these,” commented Anthony, who secured second place in the tournament.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Minister Udui highlighted the event as a platform for identifying and nurturing talent to bolster government services like cybersecurity and fintech projects, including the digital residency program. Udui expressed hopes for the future, stating, “Next year, we aim to broaden the scope by organizing a regional competition with participants from Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and Guam to challenge our local team.”
The main focus of the fintech conference, which occurred on Tuesday at the West Plaza Hotel, centered on digital transformation. Topics of discussion included retail savings bonds, the Palau stablecoin, population digital IDs, and digital residency. This year marks the second installment of Palau’s annual fintech forum.
