Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Morocco customs align next steps to using Ellos Blockchain trade platform

Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Morocco customs align next steps to using Ellos Blockchain trade platform

Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce ( ABCC) in a recent visit presented Morocco’s customs entity with the features and benefits of Ellos Blockchain and aligned the next steps to use the platform.

ABCC developed Ellos Platform as a distributed digital ledger to enhance its supply chain documentation, effectively tracking all information regarding any product being sold across the Brazilian and Arab markets, including all commercial, banking, trade, and export transactions from end to end. Buyers will be able to access relevant product information upon scanning a QR code on its packaging, ensuring customer satisfaction and quality of goods. Within the blockchain, stakeholders will be able to review the involvement of manufacturers, transporters, point of sale (POS), and others through immutable data.

Using the highest technology, the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce developed Easy Trade, the Ellos Blockchain system responsible for sending the documents required by the Arab customs authority to clear the cargo in its country.

ABCC that was established back in 1952  aims to bring closer together Arabs and Brazilians through trade and business cooperation, keeps fulfilling its mission in new and innovative ways.

As a major supporter and driver of this relation, the ABCC has adapted and reinvented itself for these new times that call for more agility in trade, lower costs, unending partnerships, and more advanced, safer goods that are manufactured under principles of ethics and sustainability. A such according to its President, Osmar Chohfi , “We’ve established an important platform, Ellos, that uses blockchain technology for digitizing the trade process, thus reducing times and costs. Exports to Jordan have already seen the elimination of paper, and the same will soon happen in trade with Egypt and other Arab countries.”

ABCC has also established an innovation lab the ABCC Lab, taking Brazilian startups to the Midde East and North Africa. ABCC has also opened offices in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and will soon launch one in Saudi Arabia.

Chohfi adds, “We’re carrying out together with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), the Halal Brazil project that aims to make Brazilian food companies to supply to Muslim countries, bringing more profits and opportunities for our country, and providing the Islamic nations with the products they demand. Halal manufacturing means manufacturing with sustainability and quality standards.”

BitOasis aims to become first regulated virtual asset exchange in KSA as tokenization interest grows across GCC

BitOasis aims to become first regulated virtual asset exchange in KSA as tokenization interest grows across GCC

During the Qatar Economic Forum organized by Bloomberg, Ola Doudin, Co-Founder and CEO of UAE based BitOasis participated in a panel alongside Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands to discuss “Harnessing the Power of Blockchain”

Doudin uncovered during the panel that BitOasis would be the first regulated virtual asset platform in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). She stated, “We are working with regulators in KSA to be the first regulated platform in Saudi and other larger markets.”

She also mentioned that BitOasis is in discussions with regulators in Egypt and Morocco. She discussed how in both Egypt and Morocco, citizens are interested in access to tokenized dollars, better known as stablecoins especially in countries with high inflation rates and easy access to these stablecoins. According to her, this is a challenge to regulators and is something they will have to seriously look at.

This comes after BitOasis became the first crypto broker to receive an operational license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulator (VARA). BitOasis has also received preliminary approval for its license in Bahrain.

Interestingly Ola Doudin talked about the GCC’s growing interest in tokenization.

According to Doudin, “One of the biggest applications of interest in the Gulf region is tokenization because it can bring in new industries by tokenizing hard assets into liquid form through blockchain based tokens. We are seeing the Gulf region, KSA and UAE focusing on tokenized securities bringing more liquidity, more transparency from an investment standpoint in a regulated way.”

She adds that BitOasis is ready for tokenization of hard assets as it has already built a regulated infrastructure with the means to buy and sell tokenized assets and as such can support this movement.

She gives the example that in a recent BCG research it stated that in the next 10 years tokenization of assets will be worth $16 trillion.

US Everything Blockchain and KSA based Al Rushaid tech ART to expand blockchain next generation database in MENA

US Everything Blockchain and KSA based Al Rushaid tech ART to expand blockchain next generation database in MENA

USA based Everything Blockchain Inc, a technology company that is blending blockchain, DBMS and Zero Trust to deliver disruptive new ways to store, manage and protect data, has partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Rushaid Technologies (ART) IT subsidiary of Al Rushaid Group. ART will become a non-exclusive reseller of BuildDB, EBI’s next-generation database powered by a advanced private blockchain architecture that delivers superior performance, reduced latency, zero trust and unmatched resilience.

As per the press release, the two companies will work to deliver highly-differentiated data protection solutions to countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

ART offers a variety of innovative IT solutions suitable for companies of all sizes and across various industries. The five-year distribution deal with a combined total of $47 million in performance based milestone payments to EBI will position ART as the exclusive agent of the company’s EB Control platform in several MENA countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Egypt.

EB Control safeguards data on the owner’s local device by creating a secure vault. This vault can be stored, transported or shared, allowing owners to maintain complete control for the lifespan of the data. With EB Control, data and files can be geo-fenced, time-fenced and data rights management invoked. With this innovative technology, data can be confidently shared and controlled outside of a secure domain.

“We are thrilled for this partnership with ART,” said Toney Jennings, Chief Executive Officer, EBI. “EB Control merges simplicity of use with elevated and extended security protections. We are confident that our technology will exceed all data protection needs of small and medium-sized businesses to large corporations across MENA countries.”

In March 2022, USA based Everything Blockchain,, opened its offices in Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Originally called GigeTech Inc. and then OBITX, Inc., Everything Blockchain, was established in March 2017. In April 2020, through a change of control action, it discontinued that line of operations in favor of Blockchain development. 

Web3 Blockchain messaging platform Pravica is only MENA startup chosen by Deutsche Telecom’s and T-Mobile for T-Challenge 2023

Web3 Blockchain messaging platform Pravica is only MENA startup chosen by Deutsche Telecom’s and T-Mobile for T-Challenge 2023

Egypt founded, WEB3.0 messaging and Blockchain communications platform, Pravica, with offices in Egypt and the UAE is the only MENA-based startup chosen among the top 20 finalists for Deutsche Telecom’s T-Labs and T-Mobile’s T-Challenge 2023.

T-Labs is the R&D department of Deutsche Telekom which focuses on translating new technology trends and delivering tangible results into Deutsche Telekom’s innovation portfolio. Their current research areas are: Future Networks, Spatial Computing, Network Security and Digital Twin and Decentralized Systems

Pravica, an Egyptian WEB 3.0 Messaging and Blockchain communications platform with offices in UAE was one of the 20 projects selected for T-Labs and T-Mobile’s Challenge in 2023.

The focus of T Challenge in 2023 is utilizing decentralized technologies for telecommunication in other words Web3 in telecommunications. As per the T-Challenge announcement, the start-ups were chosen because they stood out for their innovative Web3 solutions powered by 5G.

T-Mobile USA, and T-Labs were looking for innovative and creative approaches for the segments customer engagement and loyalty, wallet and ID management, network and security, media, entertainment, and experiential as well as sustainability.

The 20 finalists, including startups from the USA, Europe and Asia, will prepare and present their solutions to Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US leaders.

Six winners of this group will be selected and split €600,000 euros, or roughly the same in U.S. dollars, in prize money. Winners will also have the opportunity for their solutions to be featured by T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom in other projects across Europe and the U.S.

Founder and CEO of Pravica, Mohamed Abdou said, “We are very proud to have been the only Web3 startup from the MENA region to have been chosen among the top 20 global decentralized players. We were selected because we are offering the future of communications utilizing Web3 technology, blockchain, and secured encryption ushering in a new era of messaging. We have built an infrastructure that aims to bring wallet-to-wallet messaging functionality to Web 3.0 communities. Our main mission is to empower the user-owned Internet by allowing our users to own and control their data and encryption keys linked to their owned DIDs. Being selected is a testament that Web3 startups from the MENA region can compete globally with their world-class solutions.”

Deutsche Telecom in their press release stated, “We are very happy to announce the final nominees of our T Challenge on Web3 in telecommunication. The nominees focus on innovative ideas to change the way the world uses the internet. We cannot wait for the demo day and award ceremony on May 23, 2023, to come and experiences the solutions live here in Bonn at Deutsche Telekom headquarter.”

John Saw, Executive Vice President, Advanced & Emerging Technologies at T-Mobile, added, “Each and every one of the names on this list stood out for their innovative Web3 solutions powered by 5G. They’ll spend the next few months evolving and refining their concepts that will help shape how we use the next generation of the internet.”

Egyptian clothing brand Concrete partners with NFT marketplace Plastiks for plastic recycling project

Egyptian clothing brand Concrete partners with NFT marketplace Plastiks for plastic recycling project

Barcelona-based Blockchain enabled NFT marketplace, Plastiks, has partnered with Egyptian clothing brand Concrete, as part of plastic removal initiatives in the country. Plastiks specializes in connecting plastic recovery projects with companies and individuals across the globe who sponsor such projects. 

With its new partnership, Plastiks will facilitate the tokenization of plastic recovery projects sponsored by Concrete in Egypt. This facility, powered by blockchain technology, ensures complete transparency, monitoring, and traceability of such recovery operations.

Concrete is committed to contributing to societal and environmental sustainability. As part of this commitment the company sponsors a number of plastic removal projects in order to advance the fight against plastic pollution. 

By partnering with Plastiks, Concrete seeks to improve the lives of waste pickers by providing them with additional income and incentivizing them to recover more plastic from the environment. The first recovery project sponsored by Concrete is the Guardians of The Sea initiative, which focuses on two important regions in Egypt, the Red Sea and the Dahab region. Concrete assists in collecting and recycling plastic wastes from this vital area and helps to turn them into different products.

This partnership also enables the company to promote the purpose of sustainability projects to its consumers in a better way. Labels will be attached to Concrete’s clothing where the message of the collaboration will be placed, along with a QR code. By scanning the QR code, the consumer can visit the “Concrete Sustainability Dashboard” where they can access details of the recovery projects. The details include: where this plastic has been recovered from, the type of plastic recovered, and the invoice number can be viewed with absolute transparency.

“Our aim is not simply to compensate for plastic waste, rather we are committed to fixing the fundamental problem of lack of incentives for the waste pickers in developing countries. By connecting them with global companies, we ensure investment and expertise, thereby improving their overall operation and value perception. This enables them to work in a professional and convenient way. Our business model powered by web3 technology provides plastic collectors with additional income in exchange for the valuable project data they share. This data can be utilized by corporations to choose suitable projects for funding as part of their sustainability commitments,” says Andre Vanyi-Robin, CEO of Plastiks.

Crypto Ownership more than doubles in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon

Crypto Ownership more than doubles in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon

The TRIPLE A January 2023 crypto ownership country report noted that the number of cryptocurrency users has increased since January 2022. In January 2023 there were 420 million crypto owners globally; this is up from their previous report in January 2022 where they had stated there were 300 million crypto owners globally. In the Arab world biggest growth was seen in Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, and even Iraq. 

More interesting is that if we compare the percentage of crypto owners in the Arab world between January 2022 and January 2023 in some countries the increase is exponential.

For example in Jan 2022 2.38% of Moroccan population owned crypto, by January 2023 this number had increased to 4.9% an increase of more than 2% in one year. The same goes for Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebanon were the increase was also significant.

CountryJan 2022 Crypto Ownership %Jan 2023 crypto ownership %Crypto Ownership Population 2023
Morocco2.384.91,794,827
Saudi Arabia1.31.6592,351
Egypt1.7533,098,736
UAE1.54NANA
Jordan1.271.5170,649
Kuwait1.12NANA
Tunisia1.042.0241,098
Lebanon12.4185,704
Bahrain0.90.916,802
Qatar0.90.924,608
Oman0.9NA 
Iraq0.91.8700,935
PalestineNA2.3326,851
AlgeriaNA2.21,016,105
TurkeyNA5.54,626,523

In another recent CoinGecko report, Lebanon placed first in the rankings as the country most interested in AI crypto, scoring the highest of 100 for almost all the search terms, resulting in a total score of 1,200. The 21.6% share in AI crypto search interest suggests that the Lebanese crypto community is keen to trade on trends like the pumping prices of AI tokens. Other Arab countries curious about crypto AI included UAE, followed by Kuwait and Qatar.

One can also go back to Chainalysis report in October 2022, where Middle East & North Africa (MENA) was the fastest growing region. MENA-based users received $566 billion in cryptocurrency from July 2021 to June 2022, 48% more than they received the year prior. The top three countries at that time were Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey. This is once again mirrored in the stats showcased in this article. 

Egyptian Singularity Innovations and Red Date Technology bring BSN Blockchain network to MENA region

Egyptian Singularity Innovations and Red Date Technology bring BSN Blockchain network to MENA region

UAE Egyptian based Singularity Innovations Limited a Fintech Blockchain infrastructure provider, with a license out of DIFC ( Dubai International Financial Centre), has partnered with Red Date Technology, a Hong Kong based enterprise blockchain infrastructure company, to promote and build a global public IT system infrastructure based on non-cryptocurrency public chain technologies.

Singularity will act as an infrastructure provider for the BSN Spartan Network in the Middle East and Africa; offering blockchain infrastructure to corporate and governmental entities.

The BSN Spartan Network is a public infrastructure network based on the lightweight BSN Spartan data center software, which is open source, free, and anonymous for anyone to install. Within the data center, the nodes of several Non-Cryptocurrency Public Chains can be installed and accessed. By removing the cryptocurrencies from public chains‘ layer one, the BSN Spartan Network‘s mission is to provide Non-Cryptocurrency public chain services to all IT systems around the world to enjoy this kind of public IT system infrastructure.

The validator nodes of the public permissioned network are run by large corporates such as HSBC, Emperor Group, and Lan Kwai Fong Group, although many of the current companies have Hong Kong or Chinese connections. 

Mo Taysir, CEO & Co-Founder of Singularity Innovations Limited & Singularity Finance expressed his excitement about the partnership: “This partnership lays down the infrastructure required to power and empower international interoperable enterprise blockchain solutions; be it in global trade & supply chain, identity, carbon credits, personal data management, and more.”

“We have received strong positive feedback about the huge potential for public IT systems and non-cryptocurrency public blockchain technology from both enterprises and governments in the MEA region.  Red Date is excited to be partnering with Singularity to bring the BSN Spartan Network to the MEA region,” said Tim Bailey, VP of Global Sales for Red Date Technology.

“We aim to work with government bodies and regulators to always be complaint with all requirements and licensing in the aim of providing a ‘fully compliant Smart-Contracts infrastructure layer’ for enterprise & governmental use,” commented Mo Taysir. 

Egyptian Blockchain Pravica messaging startup receives investment from Cardano’s Blockchain accelerator

Egyptian Blockchain Pravica messaging startup receives investment from Cardano’s Blockchain accelerator

Egyptian founded and UAE based Pravica, a blockchain company offering decentralized private messaging and community group solutions, has secured a funding investment from Adaverse Cardano Ecosystem Accelerator and venture capitalist. Adaverse aggregates entrepreneurs, strategists and mentors building its most robust foundation in Africa and Asia.

The investment will be used to support the company’s growth and development, including its efforts to expand its chain-agnostic web3 messaging platform that enables users from different blockchains to communicate in a truly end-to-end encrypted (E2EE), open source and decentralized environment.

“Pravica empowers users to take control of their own encryption keys and protect their privacy on the new user-owned Internet” said Mohamed Abdou, CEO of Pravica. “This investment from Adaverse will help us bring our unique approach to secure communication to a wider audience.”

In September 2022, Pravica launched the first DcFi ( Decentralized Communications and Finance platform) under the name Pravica Club. 

Adaverse, a leading investor in blockchain technology, sees the potential for Pravica’s chain-agnostic platform in the market. 

Adaverse is a collaborative initiative between EMURGO and Everest Ventures Group to support blockchain founders with funds, mentorship, and tech infrastructure to scale Web3 Solutions. 

Shogo Ishida, Co-CEO for the Middle East & Africa at EMURGO Africa, commented “Adaverse and EMURGO are excited to support Pravica’s vision of a decentralized, secure communications system built on the blockchain. Both in Africa and across the world, recent market events have highlighted the importance of security and confidentiality in the Web3 space. Pravica provides one of the first tangible solutions to this issue, and Adaverse is glad to be joining their journey with strategic mentorship and tools for growth on the Cardano blockchain.”

The funding from Adaverse will enable Pravica to continue to develop and expand its chain-agnostic messaging platform, enabling secure communication for users across different blockchains.

Prior to the investment from both EMURGO Africa and Adaverse Pravica had received investment from 500 Startups fund. 

In addition Pravica had made some impressive new hiring announcements. Bedie Moran has joined as the Chief Operating Officer of Pravica. Bedie brings a wealth of experience in Fintech working as a management consultant for KPMG Consulting and as head of the strategy team for E-trade Financial. More recently Bedie has focused his attention on supporting digital startups in Africa and the Middle East.

Pravica also announced the appointment of Alejandro Criado-Pérez as their new Chief Technology Officer. Alejandro Criado-Pérez brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the field of blockchain, having previously worked as Tech lead at Stacks Foundation.

One of the key projects that Alejandro will be working on is Pravica Club. 

A look at the top MENA crypto blockchain Google search trends in 2022

A look at the top MENA crypto blockchain Google search trends in 2022

In 2022, it appears there is a high level of public interest from the number of online keyword searches for crypto, crypto payments, blockchain, metaverse, NFTs and other related terms. These keywords, for instance, are the top searches in Arab countries. This comes as no surprise as nations in the MENA region were among the list of countries receiving crypto, with the greater region becoming one of the regions that saw the most growth in crypto regulations.

According to Chainalysis, while the MENA region is one of the smallest crypto markets, its growth to $566 billion received in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022 shows adoption is rising rapidly.

UAE places 10th for highest search regions for ‘crypto’

As per Google Trends, there were high inquiries for the term “crypto” in the country from December 2021 to December 2022. The high volume of searches for “crypto” in the Arab state placed it at 10th, followed by Morocco at 11th place, Lebanon (17th) and Tunisia (38th). Several MENA countries placed high in search queries among 73 nations.

The UAE went up two places compared to the results of the Google Trend search for the same period in 2021. Before, the country was in 12th place out of the top 63 countries. Lebanon retained its position, while Saudi Arabia dropped out of the list in 2022. The Kingdom placed 45th in 2021.

The UAE has been at the forefront of crypto regulation and licensing. In 2022, it has awarded licenses to top crypto exchanges such as Binance, Kraken and Crypto.com, among other platforms, and it also welcomed hundreds of other crypto and blockchain firms.

In a Crypto Oasis annual report entitled, “Crypto Ecosystem in the UAE,” the country’s booming blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem resulted in the employment of 7,000 people across 1,400 blockchain crypto entities currently operating in the country.

Lebanon is also no surprise, given its position as the third largest recipient of crypto in 2022, per a Chainalysis report.

Meanwhile, “Bitcoin” was the most searched keyword in terms of cryptocurrencies in the Arab world, beating “Ethereum.” Bitcoin took 80 percent of the searches, with the UAE settling at 22nd and Morocco at 50th among the top countries that have looked up the term.

In 2021, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt topped the list of countries that searched for Bitcoin. This could be in connection to Bitcoin being the most invested in cryptocurrency as well as the most volatile in 2022. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has a market cap of $323.1 billion, followed by Ethereum with $148 billion, according to the estimates by CoinMarketCap.

As for Ethereum, it was searched for most in the UAE and Lebanon among Arab countries in 2022. They are followed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco.

Notably, only two Arab countries in 2022 had the biggest searches for crypto prices, namely the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Both the UAE and KSA are considered the biggest crypto trading markets in the GCC region. The 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency report by Chainalysis found that Saudi Arabia was one of the strongest markets, with cryptocurrency transaction volumes surging 195 percent year-on-year.

Overall, the MENA region accounts for 9.2 percent of global cryptocurrency trading, up from 7 percent in 2021.

UAE only Arab country with high searches for ‘crypto payments’

The UAE took the number 2 slot globally in terms of regions with high volume searches for the term “crypto payments,” bested by only Nigeria. The list of 16 countries also included Singapore, the UK, the USA and Germany.

The introduction of the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) and the openness in the UAE for crypto payments have fueled the curiosity of the community. The country’s friendly stance toward crypto has urged top real estate entities and luxury and F&B outlets to accept crypto as a payment method.

Search for ‘CBDC’ grew exponentially at end of 2022

While more countries explore the opportunities of adopting CBDCs, Google searches for the term surged in November 2022. In terms of countries with the highest searches, the UAE came in at 18th place out of the top 68 countries. Other Arab countries on the list were Morocco (47th), Egypt (65th), and Saudi Arabia (67th).

The UAE completed its first CBDC pilot mBridge this year and is expected to continue to move forward with its implementation.

Morocco and Egypt join regions with top searches for ‘blockchain’

Despite an overall decrease in “blockchain” searches this year, several Arab countries topped the list among 72 countries. The UAE took eighth place, followed by Tunisia (15th), Lebanon (17th), Morocco (21st), Egypt (73rd) and Saudi Arabia (74th).

Notably, Lebanon is looking into blockchain and crypto as a means to solve many of its economic and fiscal problems.

Lebanon: Takes 8th place in NFT searches in top search regions globally

The search for NFTs went down in 2022 compared to 2021. Regardless, NFT appears to be an interest to Lebanon residents, with the country placing in eighth place. Lebanon was followed by other Arab countries, such as Morocco (10th), UAE (11th), and Algeria (57th).

In 2021, the UAE placed seventh among the top 31 countries that searched for “Buy NFTs.” Meanwhile, in 2022, Lebanon came in second, passing the UAE, which placed fourth.

Lebanese artists have increasingly issued NFTs in 2022, with more Lebanon residents purchasing the asset to offset the declining Lebanese currency in addition to their growing interest in this crypto segment. Moreover, several Lebanese NFT marketplaces have launched this year, such as OasisX.

Top google searches for crypto exchanges in MENA

When it came to searches for “crypto exchange,” the UAE stood in fifth place, followed by Lebanon (27th), Morocco (45th) and KSA (47th) among the top 65 countries.

Notably, “Binance” topped the list of searches in 95 regions. In the Arab world, the exchange was mostly searched by people from the UAE (ninth), Morocco (15th), Lebanon (16th), Qatar (36th), Kuwait (45th) and Jordan (56th).

Binance has been ramping up its operations within the MENA region in 2022. Within the year, the largest exchange by trading volume received an MVP license in the UAE and a full operating license in Bahrain.

As for home-grown crypto exchanges, CoinMENA was searched for most in Iran, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. . Meanwhile, BitOasis and CoinMENA were equally searched for in Oman.

BitOasis also topped the searches in Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait and Turkey. Noteworthy is that there were only 20 highest search regions for these terms.  BitOasis also had more searches in UAE and KSA than CoinMENA.

BitOasis has a strong presence in the UAE that dates back to pre-license days. According to BitOasis Founder Ola Doudin, they are actively working with regulators in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere across the region to introduce their respective crypto regulations.

UAE is the most metaverse-curious country globally in terms of searches

When it came to global searches for the term “metaverse,” the UAE came in second place, passing Singapore, which placed seventh. In Last year’s trends, there were almost no searches on Google for metaverse before October 2021.

In 2022, Dubai introduced its Metaverse Strategy, which aims to create 40,000 virtual jobs and add $4 billion to the emirate’s economy over the next five years.

Lebanon tops searches for crypto mining

Lebanon becomes the top Arab country in terms of searches for “crypto mining,” placing third. It’s followed by the UAE, Bahrain, Tunisia, Morocco, KSA and Egypt.

Notably, Lebanon had the highest number of crypto-mining activities. This spike can be attributed to residents turning to crypto mining as an alternative source of income, given the financial demise of the Lebanese Lira. Lebanon’s low electricity costs also made the country an ideal destination for crypto miners.

As for UAE, it is also one of the attractive hubs for crypto miners in the MENA region, given its open stance on crypto, as well as the projects being launched in the country.

In conclusion, while crypto had a bearish year in 2022, this was not reflected in the google search trends especially when it comes to Arab countries specifically in the GCC. The MENA region and GCC country residents have shown considerable interest in crypto, NFTs, metaverse, and blockchain. These search trends reflect a growing interest in the region for these technologies.

Looking at these trends one can imply that crypto mining in countries like Lebanon are a big part of the crypto ecosystem. It might also be inferred that crypto payments interest will continue to grow in the UAE as will CBDC interest.

The fact is that despite the tumultuous year that crypto and blockchain went through in 2022, we will see more of them in 2023 and it looks like the MENA and Arab region will lead.

Egyptian Central Bank forms internal and external committees for CBDC implementation study

Egyptian Central Bank forms internal and external committees for CBDC implementation study

Egyptian Central bank has announced that it is currently studying the implementation of CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) which should offer a safer and more secure replacement to current cryptocurrencies and the risks associated with them while making use of digital economy.

The Egyptian Central Bank in its 2021 financial stability report stated that it had created an internal and external committee which includes representatives from different Ministerial entities headed by the governor of the Central Bank to study the implementation of CBDCs in Egypt.

It also noted that it is working with external counterparts to study the potential risks and benefits of CBDC implementations. 

Cryptocurrency trading in Egypt is still not regulated and the Central Bank of Egypt has on several occasions mentioned the risk involved in dealing with cryptocurrencies and the fact that it is illegal in the country to do so.

In September, the central bank of Egypt reiterated its warning against dealing in any types of cryptocurrencies, saying that crypto is risky, highly volatile, and is used in financial crimes and e-piracy. At the time the Central Bank of Egypt stated it would fine anyone who violates the Law No 194 of 2020 which prohibits issuing, trading, promoting cryptocurrencies, operating crypto exchanges or any other related activities. The Central Bank will fine violators up to $516,000 ( 10 million LE) or face imprisonment.

The Egyptian central bank had issued a similar warning about cryptocurrencies in January 2018, specifically naming Bitcoin. At that time the Central Bank had noted, “Cryptocurrencies are not backed by any tangible assets and are not supervised by any regulators worldwide, and consequently, they lack the official governmental guarantee and support enjoyed by the other official currencies issued by central banks.”

Yet Egypt has one of the highest crypto usages across Africa and Middle East. In January 2022, TripleA published a report which noted that Morocco topped the Arab countries in terms of crypto ownership, followed by Egypt, then UAE and KSA. The report stated that in 2021 global crypto ownership was estimated at an average of 3.9 percent, 300 million crypto users and 18,000 businesses already accepting crypto payments.

Egyptian national Husayn Hashim, Listing manager of Betconix crypto exchange regulated out of Estonia, states, “The Central Bank of Egypt’s move comes within the framework of the Egyptian government’s efforts to shift to digital payments and achieve financial inclusion. The move is also in line with the growth in the number of Egyptian cryptocurrency traders, as according to the latest estimates, about 1.8% of Egyptians trade cryptocurrencies despite the Egyptian government’s ban on that. I believe that the Egyptian government will soon legally allow the trading of digital currencies after completing the issuance of the legislation regulating this.”