Binance Pay clients in UAE versus Bahrain, you win some you lose some

Binance Pay clients in UAE versus Bahrain, you win some you lose some

While Binance Pay with its partner in Bahrain is breaking records with new clients accepting crypto payments using the platform, in other places, like the UAE it is losing clients. The issue could be regulatory more than technical.

So last week, Novotel Bahrain Al Dana Resort became the first hotel in the region to accept crypto payments via EazyPay & Binance Pay, while UAE’s Dubai Canadian University seems to have changed its stance and is no longer willing to accept crypto payments. This also seems to be the same situation with UAE Emirates Zone Investment Services which has also announced a partnership, but no longer mentions this prominently on their website or in their tweets. While it still mentions it in their news section.

So back to Bahrain, Eazy Financial Services “EazyPay”, Bahrain’s payment services provider signed a payment services agreement with Novotel Bahrain Al Dana Resort, a luxury 4-star beachside hotel in Manama to offer crypto asset payments to its clients via Binance Pay application which is regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

Novotel Bahrain Al Dana Resort’s General Manager, Mr. Amid Yazji commented: “Keeping up with the development of technologies, and our constant desire to provide our valued guests with the highest levels of service, we are thrilled to announce that we are the first hotel in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the region to use the latest digital payment technologies in partnership with Eazy Financial Services “EazyPay”

This is neither the first nor the last client in Bahrain to sign up. Over the past few months EazyPay has signed up an array of clients utilizing its partnership with Binance Pay. Bahrain real estate developer Bin Faqeeh Real estate Investment Company announced that clients could apartments or houses using cryptocurrencies using EazyPay’s POS terminals.

Even stc Bahrain has become the first telecom operator in Bahrain to accept cryptocurrencies through its partnership with Eazy Financial Services, a leading Bahraini Payment Services provider specializing in POS and online payment gateway. EazyPay uses BinancePay and wallet to offer this service to more than 5000 POS terminals in Bahrain.

While in the UAE, in January 2023, UAE Emirates Zone Investment Services announced it had partnered with Binance Pay, to accept crypto payments from the UAE start-up community, small and medium businesses (SMBs), Investors and Entrepreneurs who are planning to set up companies in the region. At the time, the service was prominently mentioned on the first page of their website and in their tweets. Yet now no tweet is visible on the matter and the only reference to the partnership is in their news section of their website.

Furthermore, another UAE client who had announced that they would be accepting cryptocurrencies with Binance Pay has since then retracted their statement. UAE’s Canadian University in Dubai had announced that it was accepting crypto payments through Binance Pay. In a twitter post the Canadian University Dubai announced that it had collaborated with Binance Pay to offer crypto as a payment method. According to the post students of Canadian University Dubai can use Binance Pay to pay their fees.

But then a few days later, in another tweet the Canadian University of Dubai stated, “Dear CUD Community, for technical reasons, CUD will not be accepting cryptocurrency as a method of payment, until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

It seems weird to have technical issues after the fact, as most entities try and test the service and ensure there are no technical issues before making announcements.

Could there be another reason for the sudden retraction? Could there have been regulatory restraints perhaps? One person commented on the Dubai Canadian University tweet saying, “Lies, you backed down because of pressure from gov. Paying in USDC or crypto is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to send value across the world with perfect and complete settlement.” While other tweet replies bashed Binance.

Whatever the reason it would seem that Binance while winning many clients to its Binance Pay platform, has also lost some especially in the UAE!

LaraotheBlock  reached out to Binance spokesperson and is awaiting their comments. If comments are made this article will be updated. 

LaraontheBlock also tried calling Emirates Investment Zone services but to no avail.

Where is UAE Central Bank 10th initiative for digital asset payments regulation for its upcoming CBDC and digital asset payment providers?

Where is UAE Central Bank 10th initiative for digital asset payments regulation for its upcoming CBDC and digital asset payment providers?

The UAE Central Bank announced on Sunday 12th of February 2023 its nine initiatives for what it calls its financial infrastructure transformation program, the FIT program that will enable the Central Bank of the UAE to be among the top central Banks globally. One of the nine initiatives is the launch of a CBDC for internal and cross border payments, but where is the 10th, the one that will actually put the UAE on the map as the digital payment hub. Where is the UAE’s Central Bank digital asset payment and remittance regulation or rulebook?

So the UAE Central Bank has finally openly stated that it will be launching a CBDC ( Central Bank Digital Currency) for not only cross border payments but also UAE internal national payments. As per the release, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be utilized for cross-border payments and domestic usage in order to address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and help drive innovation for domestic payments respectively.

Ofcourse the announcement that they will launch a CBDC is not surprising given the work the UAE has been doing in the realm of CBDCs over the years. 

In 2019, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) piloted a wholesale CBDC project with Saudi Central Bank named of “ABER.” A final report was published in 2020, which showed that “the distributed ledger technology would enable central banks to develop payments systems at both local and cross-border levels.”

More recently, the CBUAE, along with the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre and the central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand and China,  implemented Project mBridge, a joint initiative experimenting with cross-border payments using a custom-built common platform based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) upon which multiple central banks can issue and exchange their respective central bank digital currencies.

In my previous blog article published on December 15th 2022, I alluded to the fact that the UAE Central Bank could be close to issuing its own CBDC.

At the end of January 2023, the UAE Central Bank and Central Bank of India signed an MOU to collaborate in the payments sector; fintech solutions and experimenting with a CBDC to facilitate cross border transactions.

The Central Bank of UAE as explained in the press release wants to become the financial and digital payment hub and a center of excellence for innovation and digital transformation.

H.E. Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said: “The FIT Program embodies the directions and aspirations of our wise leadership towards digitizing the economy and developing the financial sector. We are proud to be building an infrastructure that will support a thriving UAE financial ecosystem and its future growth. H.E added: “We will work with our partners to implement the Program, achieve its goals, accelerate the adoption of digital services in the financial sector and attract the best talent.”

The Program comprises implementation of nine key initiatives  mentioned below:

 

 

1.  Card Domestic Scheme: The UAE’s first unified, secured, and efficient card payment platform to facilitate the growth of e-commerce and digital transactions in the country.

2.  eKYC:  A  secure  and  user-friendly  platform  to  facilitate  non-face-to-face customer on-boarding and on-going customer due diligence.

3. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): CBDC for both cross-border payments and domestic usage in order to address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and help drive innovation for domestic payments respectively.

4.  Open Finance: Driving innovation and competitiveness as well as collaboration in the financial services sector through inter-connectivity and inter-operability among all players and institutions.

5. Supervisory Technology (SupTech): Advanced SupTech supporting the regulatory and supervisory processes.

6. Innovation Hub: A collaborative platform for engagement, research and development for Fintechs.

7.  Instant Payments Platform: A secure, efficient, and robust payment platform that will support financial inclusion and enable a cashless society through digital payments.

8.  Financial Cloud: A secure, resilient, scalable, and reliable sovereign financial infrastructure.

9. Excellence & Customer Experience: Supporting exceptional customer experiences and fostering a culture of excellence across the financial sector.

 

But where is the 10th most important initiative? Where is the initiative that actually will allow the UAE to be a digital payments hub? Where is the digital asset payment regulation guideline, the one that VARA in its recent announcement of regulations didn’t cover? Where is the digital asset payments initiative that the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority didn’t cover?

Who will regulate digital asset payments and remittance ecosystem if the Central Bank of UAE doesn’t? It would be hard to imagine the UAE as a hub for digital payments without digital asset payments as well. It will be hard to imagine UAE as a hub for crypto and blockchain companies if there is no regulation governing the crypto, virtual assets payment ecosystem.

Sources close to the matter told LaraontheBlock, ” The nine initiative announced today are only related to the financial infrastructure. There are other initiatives being worked on.” 

I wonder if it is prudent to announce nine initiatives and pass over the one most important initiative that everyone is waiting for. But it seems that the Central Bank are working on other initiatives and hopefully digital assets as a payment method are one of them.

Saudi Nuqtah NFT signs MOU with Saudi STC Group to tokenize photographs

Saudi Nuqtah NFT signs MOU with Saudi STC Group to tokenize photographs

KSA born Nuqtah NFT marketplace has signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Saudi Telecom group (STC) to tokenize photographs from stc’s Sarha project and mint them in the form of non-fungible assets exclusively on the Nuqtah NFT marketplace.

As per the blog, STC is committed to delivering the best customers experience through its advanced technology and innovative solutions.

Sarha, the world’s first content-generating camel, is set to take its viewers on a journey of discovery. The camel travelled around Saudi Arabia in tandem with the most skilled photographers, capturing stunning images and videos that will be shared with the world.

Sarha’s journey will take its viewers further than ever before with the broadest network and widest coverage. This unique project provided by stc  has be used to create amazing experiences for people all over the world.

As such Nuqtah and stc have come together to create a unique collaboration that will bring the world of photography and blockchain technology together. Through this collaboration, Nuqtah will be creating Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) from photographs taken by stc.

This Memorandum of Understanding was signed on the main stage at the Leap 2023 Tech Forum in the capital, Riyadh, KSA. 

Salwa Radwi, Founder of Nuqtah NFT on LinkedIn stated, “At Nuqtah, we are proud to be the first blockchain and Web3 Company in Saudi Arabia to gain this amount of trust and approval from public and private bodies on a national and international scale.”

Saudi Aramco partners with Blockchain entity Data Gumbo for blockchain innovation in oil and gas sector

Saudi Aramco partners with Blockchain entity Data Gumbo for blockchain innovation in oil and gas sector

Saudi Aramco has signed a memorandum of agreement with Data Gumbo, a US based Blockchain technology company which developed a blockchain as a service platform to streamline smart contracts management for industrial customers. The agreement between Saudi Aramco and Data Gumbo is for Blockchain collaboration over a three year term.

This is not the first time Saudi Aramco has dealt with Data Gumbo. In August 2022, Saudi Aramco’s investment arm Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures made its fourth investment in Data Gumbo series C round where Data Gumbo raised $4million. The round was led by Saudi Aramco Ventures and Equinor, Norway’s energy operator.

As per the Data Gumbo blog post, “ Data Gumbo is proud to announce that on 8 February, 2023 we entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Saudi Aramco for Blockchain Collaboration.  The agreement has a 3 year term. We are honored by the opportunity to deepen our collaboration and look forward to several transformational projects in the coming years.”

The MOU was signed by Mohamed Marzouk, Saudi Arabia Country Manager and Saudi Aramco’s Senior Vice President, Digital and Information Technology Mr. Nabil Al-Nuaim in Riyadh.

As per the agreement the Areas of collaboration will include, accelerating digital transformation within the Oil & Gas Industry, exploring,  identifying and co-innovating blockchain use, improving operational efficiency and driving ROIU with Aramco, its customers and suppliers, providing blockchain training and finally identifying potential applications for managed blockchain services

Number one ranking University in Dubai UAE is accepting crypto payments with Binance Pay

Number one ranking University in Dubai UAE is accepting crypto payments with Binance Pay

UAE’s Canadian University in Dubai is accepting crypto payments through Binance. In a twitter post the Canadian University Dubai announced that it had collaborated with Binance Pay to offer crypto as a payment method.

According to the post Binance Pay is a contactless secure crypto payment technology.

Students of Canadian University Dubai can use Binance Pay to pay their fees. 

According to the QS World University Rankings 2022, Canadian University Dubai is ranked first in Dubai. There are more than 70 supported cryptocurrencies on Binance Pay, including Cardano (ADA), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and others.

In February 2023 as well, Bahrain real estate developer Bin Faqeeh Real estate Investment Company announced that clients can buy apartments or houses using cryptocurrencies. Bin Faqeeh will be offering crypto payment services with Bahrain financial service provider EazyPay POS terminals, which is utilizing Binance Pay.

In late January 2023, UAE Emirates Zone Investment Services partnered with Binance Pay, to accept crypto payments from the UAE startup community, small and medium businesses (SMBs), Investors and Entrepreneurs who are planning to set up companies in the region.

In October 2022 in Chainalysis’s blog report, MENA based crypto users received $566 billion worth of cryptocurrency in one year from July 2021 to June 2022. As per the news, this is a 48 percent increase from 2020-2021.

Saudi Ground Services to implement Blockchain document solution across 28 airports in KSA

Saudi Ground Services to implement Blockchain document solution across 28 airports in KSA

During Saudi’s leading tech event LEAP 2023, being held between February 7th-9th in Riyadh KSA, IR4LAB, a Saudi-based company specialized in disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence., and SGS (Saudi Ground Services), jointly announced the implementation of DocCerts Blockchain management solution for all training related digital documents and ground service equipment licenses issued by SGS at 28 Saudi Arabian airports where SGS provides ground services.

The Blockchain enabled solution will allow SGS to issue over 10,000 digital documents annually including licenses.

Document verification is one of the major challenges internationally. DocCerts is a solution developed to solve these issues by utilizing the power of Blockchain Technology.

Eng. Ayman Alghamdi, Vice President of Human Resources, at SGS, said: “We are very pleased to be announcing this groundbreaking solution at LEAP 2023. This is a historical moment and it’s the first initiative of its kind in the aviation industry. SGS delivers services to over 88 million passengers on 690,000 flights a year. Using DocCerts Blockchain solution at KSA airports we will be able verify documents and licenses easily, securely and efficiently improving customers’ experience. We are proud to be working towards achieving Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 through these efforts.”

Airport ground services support smooth aircraft operations. Functions carried out through these services include delivery of passenger services, baggage handling, ramping, traffic control, load control and fleet solutions. According to Expert Market Research, global Airport Ground Market Size will grow at a CAGR of 10.40% in the Forecast Period of 2023-2028

Majd Jamal Alafifi, Co-founder & CEO of IR4LAB stated: “IR4LAB was Saudi Aramco’s first blockchain technology investment in the Kingdom given that we are committed to increasing the tech adoption in the country as well as building local capabilities. The agreement today with SGS is a clear example of the fruitful collaboration between local blockchain tech startups and leading local companies in the adoption of new technologies such as blockchain. We look forward to more agreements with other players in KSA as part of the aim to achieve Saudi’s 2030 vision and lead the way locally and globally.”

Mohamed EL KANDRI, Co-Founder & CTO IR4LAB added: “This is an important milestone for the aviation industry not only in KSA but worldwide. Our customizable solution DocCerts allows any organization to create documents for their recipients using digital signatures that are then issued on the blockchain. This enables all stakeholders to verify them securely in real-time making the ground service offering in KSA airports safer, quicker, and more transparent.” 

Blockchain UAE Trade Finance platform adds United Arab Bank as 11th bank on its platform

Blockchain UAE Trade Finance platform adds United Arab Bank as 11th bank on its platform

Blockchain UAE Trade Connect platform, the UAE’s first trade finance platform to combat fraud has added United Arab Bank (UAB) as its 11th bank on its platform.

UTC, the fintech blockchain platform of e& enterprise, is the UAE’s first commercialized solution to combat fraud in the trade finance space built on advanced technologies, namely blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI). UTC is a collaborative project of the banking industry and co-created with e& enterprise.

UAE Trade Connect is a cloud-native solution that detects suspicious transactions, prevents fraud and duplication, and supports a wide range of trade-related documents that is validated and inspected in real time.

Shirish Bhide, Chief Executive Officer at United Arab Bank, stated, “We wholeheartedly support UTC’s mission of driving digital transformation and reducing fraud risks. This strategic partnership aligns with UAB’s mission to accelerate growth through digitization and to build a secure and transparent trade finance ecosystem. UTC’s benefits will not only protect UAB’s customers and the wider banking system but will also boost global trade. It is a pivotal event in the digitization space, with the potential to make trade financing more accessible, affordable, and equitable.”

 Zulqarnain Javaid, Chief Executive Officer of UTC, added, “We are excited to welcome United Arab Bank to our banking consortium – UAB joins us as a full member along with 10 other UAE banks. All consortium members play an equal and active role in the steering and governance of the UTC platform. Since our launch in April 2021, UTC has inspected transactions worth close to AED 100 billion in real time. This achievement is aligned with the UAE government’s vision to bring the best in technology building a competitive economy and stepping up the digital transformation process to enter into the new digital banking era.”

With the advent of the Invoice Factoring law recently published by the Federal Government of the UAE, the UTC blockchain platform will be a key enabler for banks to increase lending to SMEs and allow corporates to borrow against their trade receivables.

In December 2021, the UAE Blockchain AI enabled UAE Trade Connect trade finance platform which was built by Etisalat and Blockchain solution provider Avanza Innovations, had processed 10 Billion AED (2.7 billion USD) worth of invoices during the first eight months of its operation. Etisalat Digital launched UTC trade Finance platform in April of 2021 alongside seven banks within the UAE.

In early 2022, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank joined UTC platform as did Dubai Islamic Bank. At that time UTC had in total nine banks on its roster. The founding banks included First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), RAKBANK, Emirates NBD, Commercial Bank of Dubai, National Bank of Fujairah, Mashreq Bank, ADIB – Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, and Commercial Bank International.

Why the Recap report that puts Dubai UAE as the second top leading crypto city is nonsense

Why the Recap report that puts Dubai UAE as the second top leading crypto city is nonsense

Recently Recap, a crypto tracking and capital gains solution provider, published its report under the title ‘Which Cities are leading the way in cryptocurrency’.  50 cities were put in the report.

As per the report Recap scored these cities based on the following criteria. The first was quality of life score; personally I don’t see how crypto is related to quality of life. For me the most popular crypto enthusiasts and users are usually from cities and countries which have the most unbanked population or live in countries where the financial and economic situation is not that impressive. Examples include Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and others, all by the way not even mentioned in the report.

Their second criterion was crypto specific events! Wow this was a first for me, so if a city carries out a lot of crypto events then automatically it becomes a city leading the way in cryptocurrency. This was actually one of the biggest reasons Kuwait was put on the list, coming in at 16th place, because it had 64 crypto related events!! The funniest thing is that UAE was mentioned as only having 20 crypto events! I mean who are we kidding, even CZ from Binance tweeted the other day that UAE has a crypto event every day! This means that there are 365 crypto events in UAE not 20. Both stretch the truth a bit, but all can agree that the number of blockchain and crypto events in UAE definitely surpass that of Kuwait.

But please let’s not stop there, the third criteria was people working in crypto related jobs! I really don’t know how they even reached that number, but let’s dig into their numbers, so first they mention that London in the UK has the most crypto related job over 2000, while Dubai in UAE has 869 to be exact! But Japan top three crypto cities only have a total of 14 people working in crypto jobs! I mean seriously! While Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has 24 people working in crypto related jobs and believe it or not Kuwait city has 7!

Can someone tell me where is Bahrain in all of this? Bahrain which has Binance, CoinMENA, Rain, crypto payments and an ATM or two? Bahrain were crypto growth has skyrocketed.

Even If were naïve enough to believe this, given that both Kuwait and KSA have not even started to regulate crypto how is that possible, and how can Japan which was considered one of the most advanced countries in crypto and blockchain only 14 people working in crypto in its top three cities?!

But Alas comes the number of crypto companies. So please bear with me. In Dubai UAE, there are 867 people working in crypto related jobs and there are 772 crypto companies in Dubai UAE. Amazingly that would mean that there is almost 1.2 employees working across these 772 crypto companies. Even UAE Based crypto Oasis has calculated that there are 1,600 blockchain and crypto related entities in the UAE.

Skipping down to the most interesting part, the ownership of crypto in each country,. According to Recap 34 percent of the population living in UAE own crypto, how is that possible when UAE was the number third country in MENA in terms of crypto movement into the country as per Chainalysis. What’s even funnier is Kuwait which took 16th position beating KSA, Recap has 0 percent of people owning crypto in Kuwait! You read it right zero percent of people in Kuwait own crypto but they all go to the 65 crypto events happening in the Kuwait city! Surprisingly Saudi Arabia has 20 percent ownership of crypto among its population but comes in at number 22!

Anyhow I will stop here. To go any further with analyzing their data would be a waste of time! I am not contending that Dubai is not the number two city in the world leading crypto, but I would not use Recap report to make that point! The whole report is nonsensical. 

But what really bothers me, is that a lot of media actually published and picked up this report and used their data. Where is the world coming to?!

UAE Music Festival to incorporate NFT tickets by BNB Chain and Fellaz

UAE Music Festival to incorporate NFT tickets by BNB Chain and Fellaz

The Ultra-Abu Dhabi, the premier EDM music festival taking place on March 4th and 5th 2023 will be powered by NFT (Non fungible token) tickets developed by BNB Chain, smart contract blockchain and  Fellaz, a Web3 entertainment ecosystem.

The cutting edge ticketing solution powered by BNB Chain will verify the authenticity of tickets, ensuring legitimacy. The collaboration will allow for a more seamless and secure ticketing experience for Ultra Abu Dhabi fans using NFT ticketing while providing a new blueprint for Web3 fan engagement specializing in the music industry.

BNB Chain was originally initiated by Binance but has since grown to become a community-driven, permissionless, and decentralized blockchain ecosystem. Binance is now  one of the many contributors operating within the BNB Chain ecosystem rather than some kind of dominant force wielding unilateral power over it. 

Alvin Kan, Director of Growth and Ops at BNB Chain said, “The new NFT ticketing solution will allow the use of NFTs to provide a secure and tamper-proof way to verify the authenticity of tickets and offer a convenient and seamless experience for the fans. We believe that this collaboration represents a major step forward in the use of mainstream blockchain technology in the entertainment industry, and we are confident that it will set a new standard for Web3 fan engagement and entertainment applications in both IRL and Metaverse environments.”

Bobby Bhatia, CEO of Fellaz, said, “We are excited to partner with BNB Chain to bring our NFT ticketing to this global EDM music festival. Fellaz NFT Tickets powered by BNB Chain will provide a more secure and engaging ticketing experience for fans. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of this technology in the entertainment industry with global brands like Ultra.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Fellaz on this groundbreaking initiative,” said Dudley Chou, Managing Partner of UC Global, the organizer behind many Ultra events in Asia, including Ultra Abu Dhabi. “The use of NFTs for event ticketing is a growing trend in the entertainment industry, and our partnership with Fellaz and BNB Chain is a major step forward in bringing this technology to the mainstream. With its seamless integration and unmatched security, Fellaz’s NFT ticketing solution will provide a new level of convenience and engagement for fans and event organizers alike.”

Integrating NFTs into the ticketing process offers several advantages over traditional ticketing systems. NFTs offer a reliable and secure means of verifying ticket authenticity, guaranteeing entry access exclusively to those with legitimate tickets. This helps to combat the issue of ticket fraud, which has long been a problem in the music industry.

Also, it allows for greater flexibility and convenience in the ticket-purchasing process. Ticket holders can easily transfer their tickets to friends or resell them on the secondary market without paying a fee to a reseller. This allows for a more seamless and hassle-free experience for music fans. Furthermore, the use of NFTs in the ticketing process enables the implementation of innovative features such as personalized and interactive festival experiences.

Kraken closes its UAE office, Chainalysis hires for MENA

Kraken closes its UAE office, Chainalysis hires for MENA

As per Bloomberg Kraken, crypto exchange based out of Abu Dhabi UAE has closed its office  while Chainalysis lays off 4.8 percent of its global workforce, but continues to hire in the MENA region.

Kraken has closed its  third office in less than a year. The first one was its headquarters in San Francisco, then Japan and now UAE.

Kraken had received a full license to operate in the UAE in April 2022.  With these closures have come layoffs. Kraken announced back in November 2022 that it would be laying off 30 percent of its workforce, equivalent to 1,100 employees.

As per Bloomberg, Kraken laid off the majority of its team in the MENA region, a total of 8 people. Benjamin Ampen, managing director for the region, will stay with the firm. On the Abu Dhabi market registry, Kraken is no longer listed as an active exchange.

In addition the exchange has suspended support for transactions in the AED, but clients in the region will still be able to use other products and services. That doesn’t require a local license, the spokesperson said.

In parallel, Chainalysis which last year had hinted to opening an office in the UAE hiring many employees as a prelude, also lays off part of its workforce globally but not in the UAE nor in the MENA region.  Actually while Chainalysis is laying off about 44 of its 900 employees, 4.8% of its workforce, it is continuing to hire for its operational expansion in the MENA region.

Sources close to Chainalysis within the UAE told LaraontheBlock that Chainalysis are actually hiring in the MENA region given the growth of crypto in countries such as Morocco with the potential to see KSA and Qatar on boarded into the crypto ecosystem in the future.

In an official statement, Chainalysis confirmed that it did not open its office in the UAE yet. It also stated with regards to the layoffs, “Chainalysis announced reorganization primarily impacting our go-to-market team – in order to meet new challenges and opportunities in the market. As a part of this reorg, some folks will have new roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines. Unfortunately we will also part ways with some incredibly talented people within our team. Chainalysis is well capitalized and will continue to hire and build out teams aligned with our refocused strategy in 2023.”

In July 2022, The UAE’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications signed a preliminary agreement with blockchain data platform Chainalysis to provide virtual training programs for the country’s government entities.

So while some crypto entities close their offices and lay off employees in the MENA region, others continue to hire because the MENA region is a crypto growth market! So is it really the fault of the crypto winter or is it the fault of internal organizational issues and maybe even slow crypto regulation? 

Whatever the case while we say goodbye to Kraken, we welcome Chainalysis and many others to come!