UAE Venom invests $5 million in Everscale to scale the blockchain

UAE Venom invests $5 million in Everscale to scale the blockchain

UAE based Venom Ventures Fund, a Web3 and blockchain innovation fund managed by Abu Dhabi-based investment fund manager Iceberg Capital Limited, has invested $5 million in Everscale, a premier blockchain platform that aims to solve the scalability issues bogging down the Web3 industry.

The $5 million will be used by Everscale to expand its development teams and boost the number of projects.

Everscale has been diligently working on expanding its reach and integrating its technology solutions in Asian countries over the past two years, while also building a strong community. Its dynamic sharding technology enables it to efficiently adapt to varying workloads, thus making it an easy and practical option for creating large-scale Web3 and other types of applications.

Venom Ventures Fund Chairman Peter Knez, ex-CIO of BlackRock, said, “For us, this is a strategic investment aimed at the technological development of projects and teams around technologies that we focus on and actively develop. In particular, we are talking about the Venom blockchain project and its ecosystem, which is planned to be launched soon and for which Everscale is a potential Layer 2 solution.”

Venom and Everscale teams will be working together on the further development of the core and the ecosystem bringing the adoption of blockchain closer to real business use cases. Current initiatives such as digital asset tokenization platforms, a full framework for CBDCs and stablecoins and payment solutions with crypto to fiat gateways are already making good headway.

Commenting on the investment, Everscale Foundation Board Member Moon Young Lee said, “This is a milestone for both the Everscale and Venom networks. The technological capabilities of Everscale are immense but they have been underappreciated by a wider audience. Now, Everscale will be able to operate as an experimental network where updates and complex technical solutions can be introduced before they are brought to Venom. This investment will allow Everscale to gain the recognition that it deserves.”

Designed as a network of blockchains, Venom has no limit to the number of other auxiliary networks at the Layer 2 level and no limit to the economy type or operation at the Layer 2. This particular architecture means that mass adoption is now achievable on the Venom blockchain.

Everscale is ideal for hosting high-scale web3 and other load-intensive projects. Over the past two years, Everscale has emerged as one of the leading blockchains in Asia, with a thriving community and robust ecosystem of DeFi platforms.

UAE blockchain enterprise entity bags Pakistan New City deal

UAE blockchain enterprise entity bags Pakistan New City deal

UAE based Blockchain enterprise, Shaariq.com, an end-to-end real estate platform of Vision Tech has partnered with Pakistan-headquartered JK&S Developers, a real estate arm of the renowned Saif Group. to facilitate sales in JK&S Developers’ highly anticipated project D.I. Khan New City.

Shaariq.com will leverage its enterprise blockchain capabilities to ensure secure, transparent, and seamless transactions. Shaariq.com will also ensure D.I. Khan New City becomes an early mover in adopting blockchain at an enterprise level. Shaariq.com will create a digital twin of the project in the metaverse to enable efficient urban planning and optimize the delivery of public services such as healthcare and groceries. NFT linked transactions on the blockchain will bring greater security, transferability, and future readiness. D.I. Khan New City will also characterize AR-VR and AI applications on multiple fronts.

Dubbed the “Crown of Pakistan”, the D.I. Khan New City is a hybrid development in Saiduwali, Paharpur, an area with close proximity to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, and Balochistan. The development, which spans an expansive area of 4.1 million sq. m, is valued at a whopping $233 million U.S., making it one of the most ambitious projects of its kind in Pakistan.

Rajab Ali Virani, CEO of Vision Tech stated,  “Shaariq.com ventured into Pakistan with a grand vision: Enhancing transactional efficiency and reducing the trust deficit by leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain. D.I. Khan New City is the ideal avenue to turn that vision into reality. We are determined to make this project an archetype of Pakistan’s real estate excellence while reinforcing our competitive edge in tech-enabled services.”

 “The Saif Group has nearly a hundred years of multi-industrial pedigree in Pakistan. At every juncture, we have exemplified the latest innovations of the time. D.I. Khan New City is a totem of our future-proof strategy and a legacy of our people-centric worldview. The MoU with Shaariq.com complements both these priorities,” said Jehangir Saifullah Khan, Chairman, JK&S Developers. 

Vision Tech is planning an expansion into African countries, where, through Shaariq.com, it intends to digitalize land records with the support of local authorities.

WadzPay teams up with DIFC Fintech Hive to offer blockchain payment features in the Metaverse

WadzPay teams up with DIFC Fintech Hive to offer blockchain payment features in the Metaverse

WadzPay, blockchain payments provider operating in the UAE, has teamed up with DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) Fintech Hive and Emirates NBD accelerator program, to offer payment features in the metaverse. This is a huge undertaking given that the metaverse economy is predicated to hit $13 trillion by 2030.  

Moreover this is especially significant in the UAE given that Dubai announced its metaverse strategy in July 2022. As per the strategy Dubai wants to attract 5000 blockchain and metaverse companies to the city by 2027. DIFC has been working through its regulatory arm DFSA to ensure the proper regulatory environment for crypto tokens, security tokens, and is considered by VARA as one of the entities that can house regulated companies in this sphere.

Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive VP of DIFC Fintech Hive was quoted saying, “The 10-week global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups reaffirms our commitment to support Dubai’s ambition to be among the top 10 metaverse economies in the world.”

We all know that for the metaverse to be successful, payment services in the metaverse will not only have to be seamless but extremely secure as well as compliant. Each metaverse will have to have a robust payment method or it won’t be a fully functional experience.

Noteworthy as well is that Emirates NBD has stated that it intends to build up its 3D capabilities, creating virtual worlds to augment the customer experience and enabling a decentralised payment infrastructure for customers to create, monetise, buy and sell digital assets and services.

Now let’s put it all together, Dubai wants to be a metaverse hub; the UAE has already piloted a CBDC project not only with Saudi Arabia but also other central banks with the wholesale CBDC project Mbridge which is in partnership with BIS and Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Thailand and Central Bank of China. The Mbridge pilot has already commenced with commercial banks in 2022.

So far 105 countries across the globe are exploring CBDCs, with only 9 percent of countries having actually launched a CBDC.

For those not familiar with WadzPay, it is an interoperable and agnostic blockchain payments ecosystem that was founded in Singapore in 2018 but is currently operating across Asia and the Middle East with offices in UAE. As per their website, the company has been working with large payment companies, banks, on CBDC rollouts and digital assets transactions and settlements.

So when Anish Jain Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer of WadzPay announced on LinkedIn, that the company is working with DIFC Fintech hub and Emirates NBD accelerator program to enable financial services in the metaverse, it was newsworthy.  

LaraontheBlock, asked Jain what this meant and how they were working with DIFC, his reply, “WadzPay established its presence in UAE in 2020 with its DIFC entity. The DIFC FinTech hive provided tools to grow our business. It is also the breeding ground for innovation. WadzPay Chain is purpose built for payments and is metaverse ready. Together with the WadzPay payments ecosystem it will provide users with optionality, agility and access into the metaverse while making traditional payments efficient.”

In conclusion, maybe we will be witnessing the first complete financial service and payment offering in a metaverse experience within the UAE sooner than we think. A digital wallet that would or could hold CBDC, stablecoins, crypto that users in the metaverse could utilize for the purchase of digital assets or representations of physical assets as NFTs securely and compliantly.

We will know which start-ups have been chosen to implement these projects with Emirates NBD as they will be announced during Gitex2022.

 In the end it is only when you can garner valued economic activity in the metaverse will the metaverse actually have any sort of true utility.

On the side-lines, it was also interesting to see that WadzPay had signed a strategic partnership with FIGA an enterprise in the Republic of Congo to tokenize the rights of reserves of potash, phosphate and iron which will be extracted over the next 25 years. WadzPay is expected to tokenize $4 billion worth of assets for foreign direct investment.

WadzPay also partnered with Algorand Blockchain where it will utilize Algorand platform in multiple proof of concept-stage projects including Asia and Africa-based CBDC launches.