Crypto | Economy | Olympics

Hey there, good morning from the least densely populated country in the world!

In comparison to Monaco that has the highest population density of 26,150 people per km², Mongolia has only 2 inhabitants living on each km² on average. That’s 13,075 times less!

Anyway, hope you're enjoying Lunar New Year if you celebrate, and if not -  happy Thursday! 💁

  📌 DID YOU KNOW?

Some very random, but worth-knowing facts: 

• There are 79 branches and representatives’ offices of international NGOs in Mongolia.

• We have rare wild horses that almost went extinct. (Przewalski’s horse)

• Mining products accounted for 92% of Mongolia's exports in 2021.

• Our country houses a repository of unique Intangible Cultural Heritage traditions, 15 of which have already been recognized by UNESCO. (See the list)

🤑 CRYPTO: MONGOLIA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT

2021 has undoubtedly been a spectacular year for the global cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin reached a historical high of $64 thousand in November and the total crypto market capitalization grew by 35% to $2.18 trillion at year-end. We saw this surge in crypto popularity all around the world, including Mongolia.

It's booming, baby!

Mongolia is one of the leading countries in cryptocurrency adoption in the world with at least one-sixth of the population owning a token. All happened in the last few months of 2021. Last year, there were 20 initial exchange offerings (IEO) which raised a total of MNT 475.4 billion or $166.8 million, 55% of which were from IEOs in November. Even more astounding, the number of total tokens increased from 4 to 41 within just the last quarter alone.

Looking back on 2021…  

• ArdCoin (ARDX), a utility token offered by Ard Financial Group, is in essence blockchain-based loyalty program with integration in a mobile wallet. Today, more than 500 thousand people, about one in six Mongolians, own ArdCoin. Originally offered at MNT 1 ($0.0004), it rallied the market in the first 3 quarters of 2021, reaching MNT 474 ($0.17) at its peak.

• Coinhub opened its doors in July and became the first-ever crypto exchange in Central Asia with insurance coverage of $30 million. They performed well during the IEOs, trading an average of MNT 35 billion ($12.28 million) per day and becoming the technically fastest and most secure crypto exchange in Mongolia. Coinhub’s own token, CHB, pays its holders 70% of net trading fees as dividend, which reached MNT 8 billion ($2.8 million) in total last year.

• Inflation Hedging Coin (IHC) took the market by storm. In just 30 seconds they raised MNT 30 billion ($10.5 million) from the public. In terms of price, it was offered in the primary market at MNT 0.30 ($0.0001) and up until today, it has increased 9-fold to MNT 2.74 ($0.0009).

• NFTs are swiftly gaining popularity with MongolNFT and NFT.mn leading the way.

• COREX became Mongolia’s first blockchain network, consisting of both public and private blockchain types.

The future is pretty tentative.

2021 ended with great drama as the general public expressed mixed emotions about the newly introduced tokens. While some benefited greatly from soaring prices, others suffered due to frenzied sell-offs. To mitigate these risks, Parliament passed the “Law on Virtual Asset Service Providers”. Its implementation begins in 2022 and is generally intended to control and regulate crypto exchanges. An interesting question that arises is, whether all 14 crypto exchanges operating in Mongolia can get their licenses. What will happen remains to be seen.

📢 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS

Just like the rest of the world Mongolians are excited to see the great displays of sportsmanship at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. But compared to other countries we might be setting a little lower expectations. It’s just that Mongolian athletes have never won a medal in the Winter Olympics before.

We’ll get there some day!

It’s not a reason to be sad, though. Practice makes perfect, and right now what’s important is to show support for our two participants to keep their efforts steady and consistent. And speaking of participants, here’s what you gotta know about them:

• ⛷️ Batmunkhiin Achbadrakh is a cross-country skier. This is the second time he’s competing in the Winter Olympics. In 2018 he was our flag bearer at the opening ceremony.

• 🎿 Ariunsanaagiin Enkhtuul is also a cross-country skier. She’s competed in multiple international contests for Mongolia since 2016.

• 🥋 They’ll be dressed by Michel & Amazonka, a luxury Mongolian brand that previously created the outfit of our national team for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Take a look at this year’s design here.

Summer, please.

Since we’re talking about the Olympic games, let’s not leave the summer competitions out of the equation. That’s when the Mongolian athletes shine the brightest, and their achievements should definitely be noted here:

• 🤼 30 medals in 4 sports: Mongolia has won a total of 30 medals, all in only 4 types of sports: freestyle wrestling, boxing, judo, and shooting. Well, you can see the priorities. It’s either fight or shoot, and nothing else.

• 2️⃣ Second time’s the charm: We started participating in the Olympics in 1964 and earned our first 4 medals from the next Summer Games in 1968. All medals were in wrestling, naturally.

• 🥇 The remarkable 2008: Naidangiin Tuvshinbayar and Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan both won gold medals in judo and boxing respectively. Before that Mongolia was the country that had won the most Olympic medals (15) without ever having earned a gold one.

In any case, whether you’re an avid sports fan or not, we know that this time you didn’t buy a ticket to Beijing due to strict pandemic restrictions. So, don’t be upset, turn on the TV set!

📌 ECONOMY IN 2021 

In 2021, Mongolians had to deal with the the surge of covid-19 and the subsequent border closure with China. It really took a toll on our international trade. But that did not stop us from recovering, last year the country's economy grew 3.6%, and is forecasted to grow 7.5% this year.

Key numbers...  

• GDP: By the end of 2021, our GDP is expected to reach $13.7 billion. 

• Inflation: The inflation rate hit 13.4% last year, the highest since 2013. 

• Interest rate: The Bank of Mongolia recently increased the interest rate to 6.5% from 6.0%. 

• Unemployment: The unemployment rate got to 8.4% last year. 

• FDI: FDI equaled 15.3% of the nominal GDP in 2021. 

Overview of major sectors:

• ⛏ Mining: The mining sector alone comprises 21% of our GDP, meaning we heavily rely on it. The most recent notable event was certainly the completion of the Oyu Tolgoi underground mining contract. The Oyu Tolgoi project has contributed $3.6 billion to the economy since 2010. When the underground is fully ramped up in 2027, it is expected to produce more than 500,000 tonnes of copper a year. The start of the project would surely kickstart our economy in the upcoming years.

• 🐐 Agriculture, cashmere: Agriculture makes up 13% of the GDP. It is one of the major sectors of the traditional part of our economy. As of 2021, there are 67 million livestock in Mongolia, and more than 8% of our population depends on agriculture to make a living. Also, we supply a third of the world's cashmere needs, which means the rising demand for cashmere would benefit our economy.

• 💻 Technology: One of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy is technology. Last year, we had around $3.8 billion in foreign direct investment most of which poured into the tech industry. Due to the increase in private investment, our businesses accelerated, showing a growth we’ve never seen before.

Looking forward to 2022…

We hope that growth will accelerate in 2022 as COVID-19 concerns ease, benefits from the vaccination program materialize, transportation and logistics issues affecting exports are resolved, and domestic demand rises. 

🏃 QUICK STORIES

📌 Natural Gas might soon flow from Russia to China via Mongolia. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom (OGZPY) has finalized the technical details of the gas transit project in the country. The relevant Soyuz Vostok pipeline will become an extension of Russia’s Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to China. Construction work is expected to begin in 2024. However, Mongolians hold mixed opinions about this project. 

📌 Attention, foreign NGOs! New regulations are out. Depending on the respective project’s financing, scope, and number of jobs created, it’s now possible to extend the permit of operation by 3 years instead of 2. In case of cooperation with the Mongolian government or stable operations for the past 10 years - extension up to 5 years.

📌 Mongolia listed 110th in the Corruption Perceptions Index. According to the survey, which measures the perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and analysts, Mongolia has a score of 35 out of 100. Considering that our country placed 87th in 2016, now we definitely have more to improve on.

📌 But we're good at e-sports, they say. After competing against the world's best 15 teams, Mongolia’s “Stalwart Esport” placed 7th in the PUBG Global Championship, winning $70,000. It should be mentioned that last year our another team "Zeus Esports" placed 3rd in the same competition, claiming $100,000.

🗽 Mongolian Gallery in NYC

Super news for anyone who lives in the U.S. 

Mongolian Gallery shop opened in World Trade Center, NYC and you can also shop online. They carry 20 different Mongolian brands that are all micro and small-medium, and women-owned businesses that manufacture cashmere apparel, leather handbags, and handcrafted jewelry and souvenirs.

Shop online or pay a visit to their shop in NYC!

📷 A GLIMPSE OF MONGOLIA

About: Home to only 3000 people, the small village of Tunkhel is located in the Selenge province of Mongolia. Just like all the seemingly insignificant, but surprisingly charming places in the world, Tunkhel has it's own peculiar history. From a timber production hub to an artisanal and small-scale gold mining center - the village has had many interesting facets. 

To explore Tunkhel's past and present we recommend to read up on these:

• Mongolia: Better Forests Depend on Better Livelihoods

• The village of Tunkhel is leading the development of a more responsible artisanal gold mining sector in Mongolia

For more: The photo was provided by our partner artist Erdenebulgan, whose stunning photographs you can find on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

ESSENTIAL LINKS

• General guidelines on how to invest in Mongolia. (Guidebook)

• How to get a VISA? (Visa Guide)

• Listen to some rad music! (the HU)

• Hungry, but on a diet? We've got you, subscribe to this channel. (ArtGer)