Blockchain UAE Trade Connect hires International expansion Officer for GCC and MENA region

Blockchain UAE Trade Connect hires International expansion Officer for GCC and MENA region

In a recent LinkedIn post, Zul Javaid, CEO of UAE Trade Connect, the UAE’s first trade finance platform to combat fraud, announced that they had hired Wissam Massud to lead their international expansion.

As per the post, Massud will define market-entry strategies as UAE Trade Connect widens its horizons to GCC, other Middle East, Africa countries.

In the post, Javaid states, “We know that UTC’s unique #blockchain technology addresses a real-life pain for banks and tradefinance lending everywhere, so we fully expect to be knocking on lots of countries’ doors in the coming year.”

Prior to this announcement, In May 2023 Zul Javaid coming back fro a recent participation at Global Trade Review conference in KSA had noted that UAE Trade  Connect was interested in offering its solutions to the Saudi Arabian banking sector.

As per Javaid, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a robust banking market, and we are very keen to bring our unique blockchain and AI based engine into the country to help banks de risk their trade finance lending.”

UAE Trade Connect currently has 11 UAE banks among its members and has surpassed $27 million in transactions identifying interbank duplicate financing and preventing fraud attempts.

UAE Cypher Capital funds Native, a DEX layer for Web3 applications for expansion in MENA

UAE Cypher Capital funds Native, a DEX layer for Web3 applications for expansion in MENA

DEX ( decentralized exchange) layer for retail Web3 applications has partnered and received funding from UAE based Cypher Capital VC fund to grow Native’s financial Web3 offering in the MENA region.

Native offers a game-changing solution that transforms exchanges into an integrated feature. With Native, any application can swiftly transform itself into a fully functioning exchange, seamlessly integrating top-tier liquidity providers and generating substantial trading fees.

This strategic partnership will provide Native with the necessary resources to advance its product development efforts, placing a strong emphasis on flexibility, modularity, and interoperability.

Bill Qian, Chairman of Cypher Capital, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “We are delighted to invest in Native, an innovative financial infrastructure layer. Native’s exceptional capability to empower applications to establish their own exchanges in minutes, seamlessly integrate top-tier liquidity providers, and generate trading fees is truly remarkable. This strategic partnership and funding agreement will further bolster Native’s product development, with a strong focus on flexibility, modularity, and interoperability. By providing projects with complete control over their swap experience, from the user interface to the pricing model, Native simplifies the complexity of underlying smart contracts and APIs. The result is an elevated user experience, increased capital efficiency, deeper liquidity, and a significant new revenue stream for applications. We firmly believe in Native’s vision and are excited to embark on this transformative journey together.”

Meina Zhou, Cofounder of Native, commented “We are thrilled to announce that Cypher Capital has invested in Native. This strategic investment will provide us with the necessary resources to advance our product development and expand our platform’s reach in the MENA region. Cypher Capital’s investment is a major step forward in realizing Native’s overall vision of building crypto’s modular DEX infrastructure. It also aligns with NativeX’s aspirations to establish itself as the leading DEX for Altcoins across DeFi. We look forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead as we revolutionize the world of DeFi.”

Saudi-Based Blockchain Company IR4LAB expands its operations to Africa

Saudi-Based Blockchain Company IR4LAB expands its operations to Africa

During Gitex Africa, held in Morocco from 31 May – 2 June 2023, IR4LAB, a Saudi-based company specialized in disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence., announced that it would be expanding its operations into Africa. The announcement was made during Gitex Africa. 

The expansion is part of IR4LAB’s commitment to the African continent and their aim to spur innovation in deep technologies and implement use cases utilizing IR4LAB’s Blockchain solution, DocCerts as well as other solutions offered.

Mohamed El Kandri, CTO and Co-Founder of IR4LAB, who made the announcement at the event, stated, “We are happy to be expanding into the African market. We believe that Africa’s digital economy will grow and we want to be part of this growth in innovation and digitization, but also building local capabilities right from Morocco to Africa”.

According to Mckinsey & Company, Africa’ digital economy should top $712 billion by 2050 fostered by its youthful population, smartphone adoption, and internet penetration.

Majd AL AFIFI, CEO and Co-Founder of IR4LAB adds, “More and more blockchain entities are setting up base in Africa, but we are glad that IR4LAB will be the first from Saudi Arabia to do so with the support of our leadership”.

This was not their first participation in Africa. In March at the first World Maintenance Summit 2023, held between 11th-12th May at King Mohamed 6 University in Marrakech (Morocco), organized by Morocco’s largest group OCP and its subsidiary OCP MS, IR4LAB presented on the use of Blockchain in industrial maintenance in general and specifically in industrial inspection.

At the event El Kandri highlighted the role that Blockchain could play in maintenance 4.0 and the benefits of using Blockchain in industrial inspection, he has also provided real life examples from IR4LAB’s current projects.

Prior to this During Saudi’s leading tech event LEAP 2023, held between February 7th-9th in Riyadh KSA, IR4LAB and SGS (Saudi Ground Services), jointly announced the implementation of DocCerts Blockchain management solution for all training related digital documents and ground service equipment licenses issued by SGS at 28 Saudi Arabian airports where SGS provides ground services.

IR4LAB, also recently was accepted into the Ministry of Communications Information Technology tech champions accelerator program powered by Silicon Valley’s Plug and play. Plug and Play was an early investor in Google, PayPal, Dropbox, LendingClub, N26, Soundhound, Honey, Kustomer, and Guardant Health.

Circle appoints Vice President for Middle East and Africa while Blockchain IOTA eyes UAE

Circle appoints Vice President for Middle East and Africa while Blockchain IOTA eyes UAE

While Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was telling CNBC that the confusing regulation in the U.S. is pushing more crypto companies to the leave the country, Circle appointed its Vice President for Middle East and Africa, Miriam Kiwan.

Kiwan on LinkedIn stated, “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Vice President, MEA at Circle!”

Earlier this month, the Circle team was present in Dubai UAE at a dinner hosted by Miriam Kiwan, the partner of Raiven Capital, now she is the VP for Middle East.

Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle Internet Financial, during an interview with Bloomberg, blamed the shrunken value of the company’s stablecoin, USD Coin, on regulatory challenges in the United States and concerns about its banking system.

Garlinghouse from Ripple, in his interview talked about the leadership qualities of Europe and UAE when it comes to the regulation of digital assets.

But this is not the only company that is eyeing the UAE, in a tweet , Blockchain IOTA Founder Dominik Schiener stated, “It was a pleasure to meet H.E. Abdulla Al Saleh and the team at the Ministry of Economy in UAE today. It’s impressive how they’re leading their digital transformation.”

He added, “We are looking forward to bring IOTA here and create value for the region and the world.”

In the comments it was noted, “Fingers crossed for an ongoing collaboration that propels IOTA to new heights!”

The second biggest global crypto exchange Coinbase intends to set up regulated entity in UAE

The second biggest global crypto exchange Coinbase intends to set up regulated entity in UAE

According to a recent blog post published by CoinBase the second biggest global crypto currency exchange, the company revealed that is in talks with UAE’s regulator in Abu Dhabi, FSRA ( Financial Service Regulatory Authority)  part of ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) to expand its regulated operations to the UAE.

The expansion is part of its global scale to go broad and deep. As part of its strategy, Coinbase will establish regulated entities and local operations in high-bar regulatory jurisdictions abroad to focus on international growth.

As per the blog post, “Coinbase is focused on international growth and is working with several high-bar international regulators to establish regulated entities abroad that safely facilitate trading solutions and provide products the crypto community demands. Coinbase will continue to launch foundational products that are a gateway to Web3 and crypto across the globe while launching localized infrastructure and public facing products with a full suite of services.”

The post adds, “We have accelerated our UAE plans with Abu Dhabi Global market regulator. We are in discussion with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) regarding a potential license for a regulated exchange. ADGM is a renowned international financial services center. ADGM is known for having a well-regarded, comprehensive regulatory framework and is committed to operating a fair and efficient regulatory environment for global market participants. ADGM has developed and supported the regulation and trading of cryptocurrencies and Coinbase intends to help further their vision. “

This comes as Binance seeks to receive a regulated license from both ADGM and Dubai’s Virtual asset regulator. While others such as Kraken has closed its operations in UAE. 

GEM Digital investment adds $50 million to its $10 million investment in UAE metaverse project

GEM Digital investment adds $50 million to its $10 million investment in UAE metaverse project

Bahamas based digital asset investment firm GEM Digital, which invests in tokens, has added $50 million to its $10 million investment in UAE Everdome Everdome a hyper-realistic metaverse that will bring brands and people together.Everdome had also received investment from BNBChain, OKx, and Unreal engine.

Everdome will use the proceeds of the investment to boost infrastructure and allow heavy traffic loads in a high-fidelity environment. As per Everdome announcement the first $10 million received from GEM Digital has already been drawn down by Everdome for the development of the metaverse project.

GEM’s increased investment commitment follows Everdome’s recent change of management in appointing Jeremy Lopez as CEO, and clearly demonstrates their strongest support of the new management’s previous track record and commitment to the vision of our project moving forward.

Jeremy developed the relationship with GEM during his previous role as COO, while also assisting in the partnership with Alfa Romeo F1 Team and securing OKX as a key strategic partner.

Investment will be completely focused on the fundamentals necessary to take Everdome to the next level of success, including product development, scalability and growth. These fundamentals include core product delivery, to ensure Everdome opens to the public as soon as possible, infrastructure boosting to allow heavy traffic loads in a high-fidelity environment, tools for users to create and build inside Everdome as well as growth in users and partners.

GEM‘s investment comes in the form of a further structured token subscription agreement. Everdome will control the timing and the number of drawdowns under this facility, and has no minimum drawdown obligation.

At its discretion, Everdome has the ability to sell up to 200% of their average daily volume, in tokens across multiple exchanges to GEM Digital.

Everdome CEO, Jeremy Lopez stated, ‘’The expansion of the investment commitment from GEM Digital is a huge show of faith in Everdome’s concept, our growth to date, and the capacity of the management team to quickly scale the company across multiple fronts, in marketing, infrastructure, product releases and partnership acquisitions, taking Everdome from concept to a business with real ROI and a vibrantly active metaverse community on a global scale. GEM has been much more than a financial partner; they have been supportive throughout our partnership discussions and have helped open doors with new partners and exchanges.’’

UK Nexo crypto lender to hire a150 workforce in UAE as it expands its MENA presence

UK Nexo crypto lender to hire a150 workforce in UAE as it expands its MENA presence

In a recent article published by Arabian Gulf Business Insight, Nexo Co-Founder and MD Antoni Trenchev announced that the UK entity would be opening its offices in the UAE as it expands into the MENA region.

The MENA region will grow to account for 30 percent of its total global operations. NEXO as per the article which currently has 5 million users across 200 jurisdictions will set up under Dubai’s VARA regulations as well as DIFC.

As per comments made by Trenchev 150 people will be recruited. In the article he states, “We are seeking two lines of regulation,” Trenchev said. “One is for the crypto-related activities which will be at VARA, while DIFC will be for more traditional offerings associated with wealth management.

“There appears to be a political will to create a blockchain fintech financial hub in the region but more specifically Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which is always welcoming,” he said.

“In the Middle East the rules are being developed as we go, but there is the clear desire to have the business here, whereas in the US, when you deal with the various agencies and you assess their moves, you’re not really sure whether they want to have any crypto there apart from maybe Bitcoin,” he adds.

ChainUp Blockchain solutions provider sets up in UAE offering digital asset solutions

ChainUp Blockchain solutions provider sets up in UAE offering digital asset solutions

Singaporean ChainUp Group, a global blockchain technology solutions provider, has expanded its operations into the UAE and MENA region with a sales office in Dubai. The company aims to provide blockchain solutions to businesses across the Middle East region.

The new sales office in Dubai has since begun operations and seeks to form new partnerships with enterprises in the region. The team will work to curate blockchain solutions to fulfill the needs of prospective clients for them to operate more efficiently and securely.

ChainUp Group has a foothold across multiple locations around the world including Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and the United States.

The company  offers a suite of blockchain solutions covering infrastructure development and ecosystem support including digital asset trading systems, NFT trading systems, wallet solutions, liquidity solutions, Web3 infrastructure, digital assets custody, and more.

Ms. Tan Bin Ru, Deputy CEO & COO of ChainUp Group commented, “The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency ecosystems in the world and is a key strategic region of our global expansion plan. We are excited as ChainUp has a complete suite of Digital Assets Exchange Solutions to support the needs of these business requirements.”

The company has served more than 1,000 clients in 30 countries, reaching over 60 million end-users.

Blockchain gaming platform WEMIX expands to MENA with UAE presence

Blockchain gaming platform WEMIX expands to MENA with UAE presence

WEMIX a South Korean blockchain gaming platform part of WEMADE blockchain firm, is developing and delivering various games and has launched its MENA presence with its foothold out of UAE, Abu Dhabi in specific.

Wemade’s blockbuster Legend of Mir IP boasts its 500 million accumulated users in China. Wemade has over 10 subsidiaries, including Joymax (developer of Wind runner) and Flero Games(developer of Every Town) and shares in some of Korea’s most promising game developing companies, including 4:33 Creative Lab, IMC Games, XL Games, Hound 13, Raidmob, and Pulsar Creative.

According to the announcement, WEMIX MENA will also open another branch in the region as well possibly KSA and other areas of UAE.

The announcement states, “The UAE with its pro-blockchain policies, governments are focusing on digital innovation business. The region is proactively supporting blockchain-based business ecosystems and digital assets services. Launching of WEMIX MENA means WEMIX will actively seek to expand its ecosystem in the MENA.”

It adds, “Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, has been actively focusing on expanding global blockchain business by implementing digital asset regulations in 2018 and introducing Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The rapid growth in the game industry and positivity from the government toward blockchain business has made the city the base for many global IT companies to begin business in the MENA region.

Standard Chartered’s institutional crypto exchange and brokerage firm to enter Abu Dhabi UAE in 2023

Standard Chartered’s institutional crypto exchange and brokerage firm to enter Abu Dhabi UAE in 2023

As per a recent news report Standard Chartered backed institutional cryptocurrency exchange and brokerage firm focused on institutions, is expanding into Abu Dhabi in 2023. Abu Dhabi will be Zodia Markets first presence in the MENA region as it targets growth opportunities.

Zodia went live in July 2022 in the United Kingdom. U.K.-based Zodia Markets is a sister company of Zodia Custody, the digital assets safekeeping platform. Both firms share the same majority shareholder in SC Ventures, the venture arm of Standard Chartered.

At the time of its launch in UK the firm, was granted Financial Conduct Authority approval, with spot trading of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). 

Zodia Markets has drafted an application to operate in Abu Dhabi but plans to submit a new one in early 2023 after extended talks with regulators.

Chief executive Usman Ahmad told Financial News London that Abu Dhabi is attractive because it has been “forward-looking with respect to putting the regulatory framework in place”.

The United Arab Emirates has sought to capitalize on the lack of clear crypto regulations in Europe and the USA. Abu Dhabi adopted a virtual asset regulatory framework in 2018 through ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market), as did Dubai in 2022 with its VARA regulatory authority.