Qatar National Bank (QNB) has launched a direct remittance service powered by Blockchain RippleNet. The remittance service will offer money transfers from Qatar to Philippines connecting through China Bank.
China Bank is one of the leading private banks in the Philippines.
RippleNet is a financial technology powered by leading enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions provider. The new service will provide the Bank’s customers with a convenient remittance experience and a fast cross-border money transfer solution.
The service, which mainly targets Philippine nationals in Qatar, will allow them to make fund transfers up to PHP 50,000 to any bank in the Philippines in real- time. All transactions above PHP 50,000 sent prior to the cut off time (3pm Manila time during working days) will be credited on the next working day.
Adel Al-Malki, General Manager QNB Group Retail Banking, said: “QNB has always been pioneer financial technology accelerator in Qatar and the region. Our partnership with Ripple will provide our customers with a frictionless and safe experience to send funds in a way that fits their lifestyle.”
Navin Gupta, Managing Director, South Asia & MENA at Ripple said: “QNB is our biggest partner in the MENA region and we are delighted to continuously strengthen this partnership on RippleNet to additional countries. The Philippines is one of the largest remittance receivers globally, and we are pleased to be connecting QNB with China Bank to process remittances from Qatar to Philippines via RippleNet. ”
UAE Mulk International has been granted an exclusive license to establish a blockchain and digital assets special economic zone in Zimbabwe. This comes in parallel with Mulk International pledge to develop a 500 million USD Cyber City Hi tech park near the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare.
The project Zim Cyber City, will facilitate special window clearance of blockchain and digital assets licenses and bank accounts, cutting-edge office spaces and high-end residential living for all individuals and entities operating and living in the community.
Owner of Mulk International, Dubai based billionaire Shaji Ul Mulk has pledged to fund the project. As per an interview with Zimbabwean media, Ul Mulk stated, “The project will include villas, cyber technology offices, shopping malls, and the tallest tower in Africa the Mulk Towers all constructed on 2.5 million square metres of land.”
The first phase of the project is expected to be complete in the next two years. Local businessman Tempter Tungwarara, who first brought the investor, said he was ecstatic that his efforts were finally coming to fruition.
The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa broke ground to launch the $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) Zim Cyber City.
Adnan Ul Mulk, Vice-Chairman of Mulk International, says, “We are keen to witness Zim Cyber City’s role in the successful integration of blockchain and crypto technology and premium, residential living. I am thankful to President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his staunch support in making Zim Cyber City a project of national importance.”
Saudi based SABIC, petrochemicals manufacturer majority owned by Aramco, has launched a pilot project to investigate utilizing blockchain technology to support end to end traceability of circular feedstock. KSA based SABIC has partnered with Finboot, Plastic Energy, and Intraplás.
SABIC has launched this pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of using a blockchain-based, value-chain IT application. SABIC’s is the first project of its kind in the industry to trace the product from feedstock production to converter, going further than previous industry applications of blockchain in end-to-end tracing. The platform offers reduced costs, time and improved data integration for all value chain partners.
Waleed Al-Shalfan, Vice President Polymers Technology & Innovation at SABIC, said: “At SABIC, we have a deep commitment to innovation and technology that can help us to deliver more sustainable solutions to our customers. Our vision to create a circular economy for plastics requires a total transformation of the value chain, and pioneering partnerships with partners both upstream and downstream. Blockchain technology holds exciting potential for the provision of our TRUCIRCLE products to customers, and therefore for our commitment to supporting customers in their sustainability ambitions.”
Finboot’s MARCO software solution acts as middleware layer and will track the TACOIL produced by Plastic Energy from their recycling process, the delivery of this oil to SABIC for conversion into its TRUCIRCLE circular polymers, and finally the delivery of the polymers to Intraplás for conversion into their packaging solutions. The technology also ensures that all data gathered remains immutable while shared across suppliers, customers and regulators – providing transparency, auditability and accountability in a complex industrial ecosystem.
Juan Miguel Pérez Rosas, CEO of Finboot, commented: “We are excited to embark on this pilot as it will significantly contribute to the development and progression of a circular economy, while setting the example for best practice for the global manufacturing sector. SABIC is at the forefront of its industry, always looking to the future and investing in technology and innovation to accelerate its digital transformation that supports the circular economy.
Marisa Alves, Chief Procurement Officer at Intraplás, also stated, “As a global provider of packaging solutions, Intraplás has the clear ambition to make sustainable packaging broadly available to the market, without compromising the environment and food safety, something that boosted the participation on this important project with our supplier and long-term partner SABIC. The blockchain technology project will reinforce our objectives even more, as it will help us to improve performance, create additional transparency to the supply chain and promote digital traceability for our certified circular packaging. This is an Intraplás contribution, through more concretely sustainable solutions, to a real circular economy.”
Carlos Monreal, Founder and CEO of Plastic Energy commented, “As a company who has developed our own innovative technology, we at Plastic Energy are excited to explore the opportunities that new technologies like blockchain can offer. This pilot has the potential to make a big impact in the value-chain, providing a new level of traceability and transparency for recycled plastics, and demonstrating how advanced recycling can play a valuable role in the circular economy of plastics
The Saudi Central Bank, better known as SAMA, has appointed Mohsen AlZahrani, former Managing Director of Financial Services at Accenture KSA as Virtual Assets and CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) program Lead. AlZahrani recently announced this on his LinkedIn profile.
This is a significant announcement given that KSA Central Bank has been working on its CBDC project since it announced its Aber project with UAE back in 2019. At the time both The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the United Arab Emirates Central Bank (UAECB) clarified in a joint statement that one of the objectives of launching the common digital currency project ” Aber” is for use in financial settlements between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies.
It was known that IBM was one of the vendors working on the project.
In addition six commercial banks, three from UAE and three from KSA participated in the joint digital currency project “Aber”. The banks were AL Rajhi, Alinma ,Riyadh Bank, FAB , Emirates NBD , Dubai Islamic bank.
In 2020 both Central Banks released their final report on Aber Pilot. As per the report Aber project identified further areas that need to be explored in the future if the approach of a single digital currency is to be implemented. The key amongst these was the need to understand impacts to the monetary policy of participating states and to address, in particular, the means by which interest is calculated and disbursed to the commercial banks in each jurisdiction and how this can be applied with a single digital currency.
The report also noted that in terms of future work, there were many directions that could evolve. Firstly, it could provide the basis for a backup to domestic and regional RTGS; providing a more distributed and potentially resilient alternative to the centralized systems that are implemented or being implemented today. Secondly, by offering DLT-based payments rails, the possibility to expand to Delivery versus Payment (DvP) scenarios such as using the Aber network as a means of settlement for other forms of transaction, such as the sale of bonds or other dematerialized assets. Thirdly, there was the possibility of extending it geographically to include regional or other international central banks or linking heterogeneous networks together.
In 2021 Saudi’s Central Bank in a statement to Iqtissadiah news entity stated that were making efforts to support innovation by looking at various technologies including CBDCs mostly built on DLT and Blockchain platforms.
Then in 2022 Price Water house Coopers published their 2022 Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Index and stablecoin overview. In the PWC report when showcasing the progress of Central Banks in terms of wholesale CBDC front, both the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were among the top 10 globally.
As conclusion the recent appointment showcases the commitment the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia has towards not only CBDC but virtual currencies as well. We will just have to wait and see!
Dubai has officially launched its metaverse strategy which will bring on 5000 blockchain and metaverse companies to the city by 2027. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council has launched the directives of the Dubai Metaverse strategy.
As per his tweet, the Dubai Metaverse strategy will add 5 times more Blockchain and Metaverse companies to Dubai within the next five years. Knowing that today Dubai currently has 1000 Blockchain and metaverse entities, this means that by 2027 there should be 5000 Blockchain metaverse companies at least in Dubai UAE.
As Sheikh Hamdan stated, “It will also add 40,000 new jobs in the virtual world and bring in 4 billion USD to Dubai’s economy in the next 5 years.”
He notes, “Today we have launched our metaverse strategy which is the next economic and technological revolution that will play a role in every facet of our lives for the next two decades to come. We currently have 1000 companies in Dubai who are working in this domain and who currently add 500 million USD yearly to our national economy; we expect this will increase in the near future.”
Sheikh Hamdan added that the Dubai metaverse strategy will encourage innovation in the metaverse as well as government utilization of the metaverse while growing the talent base. He states, “Our aim from launching this comprehensive metaverse strategy early on is so that we can be one of the top 10 globally in this field. Dubai has and will continue to remain a pioneer because H.H. Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum has proven over and over again the fruitfulness of his future vision and development.”
Back in March Dubai had announced it would be working on its metaverse strategy.
UAE Amana Solar has selected to work with KrypC, a global technology company automating carbon offset creation and distribution utilizing CarbonCore, a solution running on the carbon-negative Hedera network that aims to make carbon trading markets more reliable, efficient, and inclusive.
CarbonCore stores, tracks and distributes carbon credits, and acts as an end-to-end carbon offset marketplace where industrial supply and demand meet. The application can be integrated with existing platforms to allow carbon emitters to easily purchase carbon offsets, and enables environmental projects to provide carbon credits to the market through a streamlined tokenization and minting process.
Amana Solar, a global leader in the installation of rooftop solar power, will work with KrypC and CarbonCore to develop advanced, highly granular Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), enabling the efficient tracking and offsetting of carbon emissions. Their critical strategic goal for the partnership is to utilize the CarbonCore market to issue their own Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
Riad Bsaibes, president and CEO of Amana Investments, said: “Amana is passionate about bringing efficient solar energy to our customers, and with the help of CarbonCore, we can go even farther. CarbonCore has streamlined the process of tokenizing carbon offsets, and we look forward to entering the fast-growing Web3 space to bring further innovation to the regional solar energy market.”
Ravi Jagannathan, Founder and CEO at KrypC, said: “A key part of KrypC’s mission is to help industry leaders like Amana and other enterprise customers of KrypC by building, deploying, and managing innovative distributed ledger solutions. CarbonCore, built on the Hedera network, is a ledger for creating the trust chain for the underlying VCUs/VERs/iRECs. By onboarding Amana and other enterprises to CarbonCore, we help large enterprises to go even further in their ESG journey to confidently offset, decarbonize and make a lasting impact on the global climate challenge.”
CarbonCore has been funded through a partnership with the HBAR Foundation’s Sustainable Impact Fund, created to provide funding for various Hedera-based solutions centered on environmental sustainability. KrypC’s decentralized architecture has capabilities for building tokenized assets markets on the network, significantly reducing the time for projects and developers to build on top of the network.
Wes Geisenberger, Vice President of the HBAR Foundation, said: “The HBAR Foundation Sustainable Impact Fund was created with a strategic goal of fostering transparency and accountability in environmental markets. We are excited to support the new partnerships that CarbonCore is building with Amana, and their customers, who have a wealth of knowledge in the industry. We are excited that KrypC and Amana share our values in bringing the balance sheet of our planet to the public ledger.”
Singaporean, Stratez Capital with offices in UAE, a boutique firm that focuses on assisting enterprises who are planning to elevate to the next phase of growth, has partnered with NewTek Holdings to develop tokenized commodity trading and real-estate projects on the Blockchain.
As per the press release, the Middle East has been identified by NewTek as a priority market, and the company is initially looking to focus on major real estate projects in Dubai. “This is an exciting partnership, and in line with the investment and strategy objectives of the company, and we feel we can add huge value with our expertise and investments. NewTek brings real asset value and a clear vision in one of the fastest growing areas where real world assets combine with future Web3 and blockchain technology,” said Vik Pillai, Managing Partner at Singapore-based Stratez, announcing the agreement today.
Qurashi, CEO of London-based NewTek, said: “I’ve been very impressed by the depth and variety that Stratez brings to this new partnership, and am thrilled to be working with them. NewTek sets out to integrate the technology behind blockchain, NFTs and Web3 into the world of real estate and commodity trading. We have clear objectives, and I’m confident that Stratez can play a key role in turning our vision into reality.”
NewTek is a newly-formed company set up by Safi Qurashi, a serial entrepreneur and property developer. Over the last 25 years, Qurashi has founded several successful startups, including one of the first internet cafes in London in 1996 and a successful real estate company in Dubai. Other ventures included an armoured vehicle manufacturing company and a facility management firm in the UAE. Qurashi is the co-owner of Great Britain Island in Dubai’s World Islands project.
Qurashi added, “This partnership connects us with some very impressive Stratez partners, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work with world-renowned luxury brands. We’ll be announcing more details about the new venture in the coming weeks. But basically we’re working to allow the fractionalization of exclusivity within the two safest real life asset classes, real estate and commodities.”
As per his linkedIn, Newtek is working on tokenizing commodities making them accessing to all. Nire is on of the first ventures of Newtek and now live and trading.
Luna PR founder and CEO, Nikita Sachdev has announced that Luna PR, a PR and Marketing agency focused on blockchain and crypto has acquired the franchise for Cointelegraph MENA. As posted on her LinkedIn Feed, “We are celebrating a huge milestone! I’m proud to announce our acquisition of Cointelegraph MENA.”
She added, “The goal is mass adoption of blockchain, which will revolutionize the way every industry functions today. Building awareness of blockchain in MENA has always been of utmost importance to us. We want other web3 projects globally to know about what the Middle East has to offer. We hope to do just that.”
Nikita told LaraontheBlock, ” I did this because I realize the potential in the Middle East and I want more projects to see what this region has to offer. We will most likely officially launch by next month.”
Cointelegraph is a global Blockchain crypto emerging FinTech media platform that was launched in 2013. Its presence now in the MENA region is a testament to the growing role this region is playing when it comes to blockchain and crypto. Cointelegraph launched its franchise opportunities back in 2015 and has French, Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, and Korean and Portuguese websites.
The new franchise owner, Luna PR, has been in the crypto space since 2017 and was founded by American entrepreneur, Nikita Sachdev. It is headquartered in Dubai, with offices in Miami and Singapore, and houses over 100 employees. The blockchain-focused agency has worked with over 600 Web3 clients, including top crypto projects, government entities, and celebrities looking to enter the blockchain space.
As per Luna PR press release, Cointelegraph MENA will be published in both English and Arabic. It will cover Blockchain crypto news from the MENA region. Notably the Arabic website was already up and running before Luna PR took over, of course with different owners.
In the past few days the Saudis NFT Collection has topped the OpenSea volume charts just below cryptopunks. The Saudis Free to Mint Collection totaled 6,700 ETH (roughly $7.7 million) in sales volume since its mint on July 9th 2022. It is now sold out!! The Saudis is a collection of 5,555 NFT, an exclusive club, max bidding to the top.
Each Saudi is unique and programmatically generated from over 80 possible traits. All collectibles are on the Ethereum blockchain. The Saudi NFT will grant its holder a Sheikh status in the Saudis Kingdom and allow owners access to upcoming venues.
The Saudis NFT also has onchain metadata as one of its features given that they store their metadata on their smart contracts unlike most NFTs which rely on external sources like AWS (Amazon Web Services) or IPFS to host metadata. Storing the metadata on chain helps to reduce the costs. Not only does this metadata include the name and traits, but it also includes data to generate the image itself
As per a tweet on Saudis NFT, the NFT collection had been flying, topping the OpenSea Charts with almost 7,000 ETH traded since the weekend.
The collection of 5,555 NFTs were free to mint on July 9th a Saturday and sold out within hours.
The project’s floor price (which is the price of the cheapest edition currently for sale on the open market) is around 0.75 ether (roughly $867), after peaking at around 1.3 ETH (roughly $1,650) on Saturday.
As per a Coindesk article, the release came with its fair share of NFT influencer drama, with fingers being pointed at popular Twitter personalities who were able to profit off early knowledge of the mint.
UAE is building its digital economy organically by educating its government employees as well as acquiring it internationally by attracting international tech players and their talents. Not only has the country come out with a new initiative to attract 300 global tech firms, but it is also working with Chainalysis to train its government employees on all things blockchain and crypto (virtual assets).
In recent news announced, Minister of State for foreign trade, Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, launched the “NextGenFDI” that aims to attract 300 global tech firms as well as software developers, data scientists, and coders.
The start of the initiative is through partnerships already inked out with seven major firms and business districts that include Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai South, DMCC, Dubai Internet City, Emirates NBD and digital bank WIO.
Al Zeyoudi said international businesses “are approaching us and asking how they can relocate their talent, ideas, and high-growth ventures to the UAE. The global interest in 2022 is unprecedented and while we are already working with some, we know many more want to follow suit. We want to ensure that the world’s most promising digital companies can access all the benefits that our attractive, business-friendly environment offers – but we also want to make it easy for them.”
The minister said they are introducing measures to make market entry for companies and workers simpler. These include fast incorporation processes to speed up licensing, bulk visa issuances, banking facilitation and commercial and residential lease incentives.
This is in line with UAE’s establishing 1,000 new digital companies and increase investments in startups from $400 million to $1.3 billion.
But that is not all, on the governmental front, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and teleworking applications, Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama signed an MOU with Bas Lemmens, General Manager for EMEA at Chainalysis to provide virtual training programs for government employees in the areas of Blockchain and virtual assets.
For those who don’t know Chainalysis, it provides data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 70 countries. Their data platform powers investigation, compliance, and risk management tools that have been used to solve some of the world’s most high-profile cyber-criminal cases and grow consumer access to cryptocurrency safely.
This would allow employees to develop their skills. Al Olama stated that strengthening partnerships with pioneering companies and empowering government entities with the latest tools and advance technologies play a pivotal role in enhancing the readiness of the UAE government, through exchanging experiences and global success stories. Blockchain technology is key to creating innovative solutions for future challenges, which contributes to developing government work and new technologies that enhance the UAE’s leading position globally, he added.
The MoU also aims to enhance the utilization of Blockchain technologies in building a smart future for the UAE.
Michael Gronager, CEO and Co-Founder of Chainalysis, said, “We are honored to be selected by the UAE to play a supporting role in up skilling government entities through knowledge in Blockchain that have the potential to serve as one of the essential digital tools in promoting a robust digital economy.”
Bas Lemmens, added “We are very proud to partner with the UAE government in supporting its initiatives in adopting blockchain, analysis tools and training through the ‘UAE Chainalysis Centre of Excellence’ to implement new technologies that will help drive new business opportunities. We want to build trust in blockchains and drive the adoption of digital assets.”
As of today there are more than 1000 blockchain and crypto companies who have set up in UAE. With these initiatives this number is
