Dimitra, an agriculture technology and sustainability solutions, that leverages blockchain and artificial intelligence to support farmers – has partnered with UAE regulated MANTRA, a layer 1 blockchain platform focused on real-world assets (RWAs) to bring green agricultural assets onchain.

As per the press release, this will bring innovative ways for farmers to finance their activities, and enable global investors to engage in sustainable value creation.

Dimitra uses blockchain and artificial intelligence to help smallholder farmers boost productivity and build more resilient agricultural systems while MANTRA brings a secure, regulation-friendly blockchain designed for tokenizing real-world assets, across real estate, commodities, and agriculture.

The first phase of the partnership will focus on cacao production in the Amazon region of Brazil and carbon credit projects in Mexico. In Brazil, Dimitra is working with smallholder farmers to improve cacao yields through the Connected Cacao platform, designed to provide tools for soil analysis, crop monitoring, AI technical assistance and regenerative best practices. Cacao is a high-demand crop, especially among chocolate producers. Tokenizing cacao-based RWAs can open new paths for financing infrastructure, traceability and farmer incentives, making the entire value chain more profitable and transparent.

In Mexico, Dimitra and MANTRA will leverage Dimitra’s carbon monitoring tools to support a forest conservation project covering over 20,000 hectares, with the potential to generate nearly one million carbon credits in the next ten years. These efforts will produce 100% traceable carbon credits, making it easier to verify, trade and invest. As the global demand for carbon credits continues to rise, tokenization of carbon projects offers a path to broader access and greater impact.

While the initial projects will focus on Brazil and Mexico, this partnership will establish a framework for tokenizing agricultural projects worldwide. Dimitra’s portfolio includes dozens of agricultural projects in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

“This partnership is about unlocking new value from the real economy,” said Jon Trask, CEO of Dimitra. “Through MANTRA’s platform, we’ll be able to turn powerful, regenerative agricultural projects into accessible investment opportunities, benefiting both farmers and investors.”

“Tokenizing agriculture isn’t just about innovation, it’s about finding solutions to real-world issues long associated with food supply – at scale – and for long-term impact,” said John Patrick Mullin, CEO of MANTRA. “Dimitra is solving real-world problems, with a focus on traceability and transparency – and we’re proud to help bring those to a wider audience. MANTRA Chain was built to support projects like these.”

Recently, MANTRA, partnered with WIN Investments, a fintech platform pioneering regulated sports digital assets to tokenize sports assets starting with soccer.

UAE Blockchain enabled ACX Group has partnered with Brazilian financial service provider B3 to streamline carbon market access to Brazilian companies seeking to reach their net zero goals.  The partnership will leverage UAE blockchain ACX’s proprietary exchange technology and established leadership in the carbon market and B3’s position as the largest financial exchange in Latin America.  

ACX operates the world’s first recognized investment exchange for environmental instruments in Abu Dhabi. It caters to corporates, financial traders, carbon project developers, and other industry stakeholders. ACX provides participants with an efficient and transparent trading platform that is user-friendly, seamless and offers the lowest transaction fees in the market. Leveraging distributed ledger technology,

As part of the partnership, B3, with its strong presence in the Brazilian capital markets and its deep relationships with market participants, aims to contribute to the expansion and success of ACX’s Brazil trading platform which is targeted to be launched in 1Q 2024.

ACX and B3, both regulated financial companies under their respective jurisdictions, will seamlessly connect what is expected to be one of the world’s largest carbon markets to the broader international marketplace.  ACX’s transparent and award-winning platform will allow Brazilian businesses to transact with buyers and sellers worldwide.

William Pazos, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of ACX, said, “We are excited to partner with B3 in Brazil.  This transaction connects one of the world’s largest carbon markets to the broader network of ACX exchanges.  With our strong partners and by providing market-leading trading technology, we aim to support Brazil’s efforts to promote sustainable development and grow its native carbon market.”

Leonardo Paulino Betanho, Head of OTC products at B3, said, “Brazil has the potential to be one of the biggest carbon credit suppliers in the world and B3 is committed to boosting this market in this country by providing a safe, with price transparent, and integrated trading platform that supports the acceleration toward a more sustainable future. Furthermore, the deal is in line with B3’s strategy of developing new products and advancing the ESG agenda in a way that promotes sustainable economic development.”

Together, ACX and B3 are dedicated to promoting the growth and visibility of Brazil’s carbon market, fostering economic prosperity, and addressing climate change challenges. By facilitating connections between local and global stakeholders, this partnership sets the stage for a more sustainable future, where Brazil’s carbon credits can make a meaningful impact on a global scale.

Carlos Martins, CEO of BlockC, ACX’s Brazilian partner, said, “With B3’s market position and strong network, ACX’s technology and expertise in carbon trading, coupled with BlockC’s deep understanding of the local market, we have an invaluable combination of strengths as we establish our presence and bring ACX’s Brazil platform to fruition.”

According to a recent report by FDI markets published in FDI Intelligence, UAE topped the list of countries with most crypto related FDI projects. UAE had a whopping 15 projects making it number one. It was followed by the USA which attracted 11 crypto projects; Brazil came in third with 7 projects, followed by UK, Lithuania at 4th place with 5 crypto projects, then Singapore in fifth place with 4 projects, followed by Canada, Australia, ( 3 projects each) and France, Sweden with 2 projects 

Some 98 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were announced in crypto related activities in the first half of 2022, an increase of 145% from the same period in 2021. This number was higher than any pre-recorded database since 2016. It was also double the figure for the whole of 2021.

Most of the companies who announced FDI projects in H1 of 2022 were those that involve crypto services, such as crypto exchanges, who set up new physical presence in foreign countries.

This is true of UAE which attracted the likes of Binance, OKx, Huobi, crypto.com, FTX, and many others in 2022 since it announced its virtual assets regulatory authority. Today the UAE boasts of over 1200 crypto blockchain related entities and is seeking to attract 5000 Blockchain and metaverse companies in the next 5 years.

DIFX, a cross asset crypto exchange which recently witnessed a 20 percent increase in its number of users, has launched new features amid the bear market, most notably is the introduction of Avatars and personalized profiles, giving the exchange a more gamified look and feel. 

DIFX announced the launch of its future trading, allowing users to maximize profits by utilizing both traditional and digital markets, including stocks, indices, metals, commodities and of course cryptocurrencies. While users can now create accounts through emails and phone numbers, they can also create their own avatar giving the crypto exchange a more gamified feel to it.

New crypto-enthusiasts will also benefit from features such as viewing their digital assets in their preferred currencies, creating trading views with only their favorite assets and custom alerts to keep track of their investments. Other advanced features include the addition of crypto pricing and algorithmic trading, market pairs (Spot & Futures) organized by categories (USDT, NFT, DEFI, etc.), and an order book for filtering & decimal selection.

DIFX cross asset crypto exchange is most popular in Brazil, Spain, France, Lithuania, Vietnam, Ghana and Nigeria. Most of these countries have a high percentage of youth, which are interested in both crypto and egaming.