As promised the Abu Dhabi Customs, during Gitex 2023 launched its expanded version of Invisible Customs System blockchain enabled Trade Chain as well as a cooperation agreement with Blockchain entity CargoX a blockchain platform in the logistics industry.  This advanced platform integrates with global blockchain platforms specialized in trade, providing benefits like improving customs operations performance, enhancing the reliability of information sources, and processing information proactively and quickly through a safe and secure platform.

The platform enhances the capability to monitor shipments, as well as the shipping and clearance procedures. It can also predict delivery times, contributing to reduced effort and costs associated with customs clearance. Furthermore, it facilitates seamless communication with trade partners and enhances supply chain security.

The platform also enhances the speed of data exchange with connected entities and guarantees the confidentiality of data shared with customs authorities and other entities using the platform. This results in a reduction of up to 80 percent in the time and effort required for goods clearance.

Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General of Abu Dhabi Customs, said that the launch of the advanced customs platform “Trade Chain” comes within the framework of Abu Dhabi Customs’ ongoing efforts to facilitate trade, bolster security and safeguard society, by adopting advanced technologies to enhance its customs system and consolidate its pioneering position, in line with the directives of the wise leadership, and the economic visions for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the UAE, through continuous foresight for the future and keeping pace with innovation in trade facilitation and the opportunities that the Fourth Industrial Revolution technology brings to increase efficiency and effectiveness and save time, effort and cost within all customs transactions, especially through establishing coordinated, effective, integrated and digital border management systems, ensuring invisible customs and governed borders that are both open and secure.

Abu Dhabi Customs, represented by Fahad Ghareeb Al Shamsi, Executive Director of Support Services Sector, also signed an agreement with CargoX on the sidelines of the Trade Chain platform launch at GITEX, represented by Vjeran Ortynski, VP of Business Development.” regarding data transfer via the blockchain platform.

The cooperation agreement aims to establish a framework for implementing blockchain projects and enhancing relations between the two parties to provide better services to Abu Dhabi Customs clients and clear shipments before arrival, as well as exchange expertise and information and meet business requirements and optimal use of the capabilities and expertise of both parties in areas of mutual interest.

Areas of cooperation include benefiting from the use of the Advance Cargo Information System, providing a blockchain data transfer solution to be presented to importers and exporters of goods through maritime ports in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to facilitate the flow of maritime imports and exports.

According to a study conducted by the World Economic Forum, the global market value of blockchain technology in the customs field is expected to grow to $20 billion by 2025, saving up to $200 billion annually in global customs costs.

This is not the first agreement for CargoX in the region. In 2021, The Egyptian government through its Egyptian Customs Authorities, made mandatory Advance Cargo Information (ACI) declarations under its new Egyptian Customs law #207 for all cargo inbound to Egypt. The process is currently managed through the Blockchain enabled National Single Window for Foreign Trade platform (NAFEZA), built by Misr Technology Systems (MTS), where Blockchain enabled platform CargoX was authorized as the blockchain e-documents transfer gateway services provider.

The CargoX Blockchain platform helped the Egyptian government shorten cargo release times from 29 days to under 9 days, reduce import compliance cost from more than 600 USD to under 165 USD, and improve efficiency in cargo import risk assessment, tax revenue collection, and overall cargo flow transparency.

In August 2023, Uganda’s Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Technology Associates & CargoX consortium (TA-CargoX). The MoU aims to establish TradeXchange, a national trade facilitation platform. PACEID’s objective with this strategic technology partnership is to support exporters, resolve trade bottlenecks, easily comply with global trade standards and buttress Uganda’s ambitious goal of doubling its exports by 2026.

The CargoX Platform for Blockchain Document Transfer (BDT) is used by more than 115,000 companies worldwide, and has processed more than 5,3+ million electronic trade documents to date, without noticeable downtimes or operation failures.

AI and Blockchain enabled Tribal Credit, based in USA and founded by Egyptian entrepeneurs, which empowers SMEs in emerging markets through a comprehensive suite of financial products,payment tools will be expanding into Saudi Arabia, using a renewed and increased debt facility of $150 million with Partners for Growth.

Renewed through 2025, this upsized facility is not only a testament to Tribal’s remarkable credit performance but also an accelerator for the company’s ambitious growth plans in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and beyond.

As per the press release, this significant expansion will notably enhance Tribal’s presence in Saudi Arabia in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, serving as the core of its global expansion strategy. Further, it will fuel the company’s continued growth across Mexico and Latin America, enabling Tribal to bring more SMEs into the fold of its innovative financial services.

With over $200 million in funding from industry-leading investors like SoftBank, QED Investors, BECO Capital, Stellar Development Foundation, and Coinbase Ventures, Tribal is making strides in bridging the financial inclusion gap. Led by a team of accomplished entrepreneurs, data scientists, and banking executives, and recognized as a top fintech by leading industry bodies.

Over the past few years, Tribal’s diligent investment in credit processes, tools, products, and team has culminated in exceptional credit performance, even amid challenging market conditions. This achievement has facilitated a healthy revenue mix from both financing and payment products, reinforcing the company’s robust financial health and laying the foundation for sustainable growth.

Partners for Growth (PFG), a global specialty lending firm focused on emerging growth companies, highlights Tribal’s exceptional credit performance and sophisticated financial products. “Tribal Credit has consistently demonstrated strong credit performance even in challenging market conditions.

Their continued investment in the credit process, tools, and the team has paid dividends,” says Armineh Baghoomian, Managing Director, Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Co-Head of Global Fintech at PFG. “In addition, they have innovated and launched financial products that truly meet the needs of SMEs in emerging markets. We’re thrilled to extend our partnership with Tribal and excited to support Amr, Duane and the team as they continue shaping the landscape of financial services.”

Tribal has reshaped the financial landscape for SMEs in emerging markets by prioritising accessibility to credit and digital payments. In doing so, it has empowered a remarkable number of SMEs to fuel their growth, making a lasting impact in these markets. Throughout its journey, Tribal has facilitated a substantial volume of transactions via its corporate credit cards and B2B cross-border products, demonstrating its crucial role in empowering emerging markets.

“We’re delighted to fortify our partnership with Partners for Growth,” says Duane Good, Tribal COO and Co-Founder. “We emphasize building enduring relationships with our clients, and nurturing our ties with capital partners is equally essential.” Good, alongside Amr Shady, Tribal CEO and Founder, sees the enhanced debt facility as a testament to Tribal’s mission and potential. “This funding will equip us with the necessary resources to seize exciting market opportunities ahead,” Shady adds. “We’re eager to continue our journey of developing innovative tech solutions to help SMEs thrive in emerging markets, especially in Mexico and Saudi Arabia.”

In 2021, Tribal Capital received an initial $3 million from Stellar Development Foundation to advance blockchain products built on stellar. Tribal Credit first raised 5.5 million USD through an investment round led by UAE  BECO Capital and Global Ventures.

At the time Amr Shady, Tribal Credit CEO stated, “Our entire mission is about empowering startups and SMEs in emerging markets with access to financial services. Our focus starts in Mexico, a country that will benefit from global accessibility to banking services previously only available to large corporations. By tapping into Stellar’s existing and growing network of anchors, we will be able to leverage existing digital assets to bring our customers with fast, affordable cross-border payments, credit card balance settlement, and other innovative features of the Stellar blockchain that will benefit our global users.”

In addition Mohamed Elkasstawi, Tribal Credit Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer who leads the blockchain vision, strategy, and execution also noted “We see blockchain, and our integration with Stellar specifically, as a strategic next step for our business, offering us the ability to provide cheaper, faster payments for our customers,” said. “Working with the Stellar ecosystem, we’ll be able to leverage the network to deliver on some of our most important use cases — like facilitating  cross-border payments between businesses in previously underserved markets. This is only one of many exciting blockchain projects we’re working on in partnership with SDF.”

In the fourth annual Chainalysis Global crypto adoption index, identifying countries where the most people are putting the greatest share of their wealth into cryptocurrency, once again Morocco takes lead and is listed as one of the top 20 countries placing an Arab country on the map, while Turkey places the MENA region. The 2023 report states that global adoption is down, but not in one crucial subset of the world.

More specifically, there’s one crucial segment of countries where grassroots adoption has seen a much stronger recovery than anywhere else: Lower middle income (LMI) countries.

The full report will be out in October, but compared to 2022, the countries on the top 20 list are still almost the same.  In 2022 Turkey, Egypt and Morocco led not only in MENA  region but globally. All three countries were in the top thirty list of countries with most crypto savings, usage of crypto for remittance payments and permissive crypto regulations.

As for Sub Saharan Africa, the adoption of Bitcoin is the highest in the world with 9% growth rate. Nigeria was one of only six countries in the world whose transaction volume grew year-over-year. The use of homegrown Sub-Saharan Africa-based exchanges continues to outpace global exchanges.

BingX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has introduced  Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading services for multiple countries in the MENA region including UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwat, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This means that trading includes fiat currencies such as  AED, DZD, EGP, JOD, KWD, QAR, SAR, MAD, TRY, and more. By opening up this feature, BingX aims to foster greater accessibility and convenience for users seeking to purchase cryptocurrencies with their local fiat currencies.

According to BingX press release, this strategic move empowers merchants and users in the MENA region and Turkey to engage in direct cryptocurrency transactions with zero transaction fees. Building on its successful P2P trading services available in over 40 countries and regions with support for 300+ payment methods, BingX now extends its user-friendly and cost-effective trading experience to the MENA and Turkey market.

BingX is seeking merchants in the Middle East and Turkey.

“We are delighted to introduce our P2P trading services with more accessibility for all users,” said Elvisco Carrington, PR and Communications Director of BingX. “As we continue to enhance our platform’s offerings, we are committed to providing our users with professional, secure, and cost-effective trading solutions. By expanding into the MENA and Turkey market and offering zero-fee P2P trading, we aim to create a dynamic trading environment that caters to the unique needs of local users and merchants.”

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.”

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.

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. 

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.”

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.

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.