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06/05/2025—The Commonwealth Economic Development Authority reported strong investor interest from around the globe following the CNMI’s participation in last month’s 2025 SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland, raising hopes for a more diversified economy beyond tourism.
Speaking at the Saipan Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting last June 4 at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan, CEDA executive director Derek Sasamoto said the CNMI delegation returned from the U.S. Commerce Department-led event with a number of serious investment leads, including companies in high-tech manufacturing, renewable energy, pharmaceutical production, precision injection molding, and agribusiness.
“We had very little time to prepare, but we delivered the best booth the CNMI has ever brought to SelectUSA,” Sasamoto said, crediting the quality of the territory’s new investment package and a collaborative, cross-agency effort that included the departments of Commerce, Labor, and Finance, divisions of Tax and Revenue, Customs Services, Environmental and Coastal Quality, and Northern Marianas College, and the Senate.
“We wanted to make sure our investment package was effective and accurate,” he said.
The CNMI’s booth garnered exceptional feedback for both its presentation and its substance, Sasamoto said. The investment package highlighted the Marianas’ unique advantages such as its exemption from the Jones Act, no U.S. customs duties, no federal unemployment taxes, and uncapped access to the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers. The package also emphasized the CNMI’s strategic location in the Asia-Pacific region and the potential for manufacturing exports to the U.S. under favorable tariff treatment.
Among the most interested parties were a Silicon Valley-based “super material” company involved in energy tech, a Japan-based electric vehicle component manufacturer, and an agribusiness firm from Ghana exploring cocoa cultivation in the region. Sasamoto added that one investor was so impressed by the CNMI’s pitch that he canceled a trip to buy a factory in Europe just to meet the CNMI team.
Tinian’s Stablecoin not meant for investment
During the same Chamber meeting, proponents of Tinian’s historic launch of the Marianas U.S. Dollar stablecoin—the first government-issued cryptocurrency in the United States—said the MUSD was never intended to serve as an investment product.
Senate vice president Karl King-Nabors and Marianas Rai Corp. co-founder Vin Armani emphasized that the MUSD is strictly a digital payment tool to support the island's electronic gaming and e-casino operations—not a speculative asset like Bitcoin.
“The MUSD is not for investment,” King-Nabors clarified. “It is a token used to gamble online and to ensure transparency in transactions. For every MUSD issued, there is a matching U.S. dollar in the Tinian treasury. It’s a 1:1 ratio, by law.”
The Tinian Legislative Delegation’s adoption of Tinian Local Law 24-03 last May allowed the municipality to mint the digital currency, which is planned to use to facilitate regulated online gaming. The Tinian Mayor’s Office confirmed that the first $100 MUSD was issued on May 19, 2025, and that Marianas Rai Corporation was contracted to serve as the software and systems provider.
What sets the MUSD apart is not only its regulatory framework and technical oversight, but the milestone it represents: Tinian outpaced Wyoming to become the first U.S. government district—albeit a municipality and not a state—to officially issue a stablecoin.
“This is monetary history,” Armani said, noting that Wyoming had been developing a similar initiative for years but had not yet issued any tokens.
While the Tinian initiative is being heralded by supporters as a groundbreaking move to revive the island’s digital gaming economy, it has come under legal challenge from CNMI Attorney General Edward Manibusan, who contends the local law may violate constitutional limits.
“This is not about cryptocurrency,” Manibusan previously told reporters. “It’s about the effect of a local law on the entire Commonwealth. That’s a constitutional issue, and it’s our job to deal with that.”
Because of the pending lawsuit, both King-Nabors and Armani declined to comment further on the legal challenge. However, they defended the MUSD’s legal compliance and emphasized its potential to improve transaction oversight and reduce reliance on traditional banks for digital payments.
For now, the stablecoin remains in circulation under municipal supervision. The Tinian Casino Gaming Commission, now tasked with updating regulations for online gambling licenses, is continuing to work on enforcement policies.
King-Nabors also said there are 12 e-gaming and electronic casino companies they’re currently vetting that would be eventually allowed to use the MUSD.
Story by Mark Rabago
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