Crypto advocate Kevin O’Leary turned UAE national launches Web3.0 fund with lead investor from UAE

Crypto advocate Kevin O’Leary turned UAE national launches Web3.0 fund with lead investor from UAE

Kevin O’ Leary, nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful”,  a Canadian businessman, entrepreneur, and television personality and an advocate of cryptocurrency stated that he recently became a UAE citizen because he wants to work freely in a region that has attracted investment by some of crypto’s heaviest hitters, including FTX, Binance and Crypto.com

This came as he announced at Converge22 Blockchain and cryptocurrency conference that he was launching a Web3.0 investment fund called Cipher with the lead investor coming from the UAE.

As he noted on stage, “We’ve got to get away from this speculative price of an asset here. We’ve got to find reasons that this technology gets embedded into the economy.”

He went on to say, “I recently became a citizen of the United Arab Emirates to work freely in a region that has attracted investment by some of crypto’s heaviest hitters, including exchanges FTX, Binance and Crypto.com. The new all-Web3 fund’s lead investor comes from the United Arab Emirates.  There’s a tremendous amount of capital and interest there to invest in this space.”

The Shark Tank investor also commented on Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., who called Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies as “decentralized Ponzi schemes” during the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services hearing.

“This is my interpretation. He feels threatened by some of this technology, particularly around payments,” O’Leary said. “This isn’t about speculation on asset price. This is about reducing the fees of how the world’s economies work more transparent, more productive, completely auditable, regulated, but less expensive.”

O’Leary is a vocal proponent of Web3 technology as a spokesperson for cryptocurrency exchange FTX and an investor in financial technology company Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin and the organizer of the Converge22 conference.

Abu Dhabi investment firm ADQ launches $200 million fund for Digital assets Fintech, and supplychain

Abu Dhabi investment firm ADQ launches $200 million fund for Digital assets Fintech, and supplychain

Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and Further Ventures, an investment firm back by ADQ have launched a $200 million fund focused on Fintech, digital assets and supplychain.

As per the news, entrepreneurs and experienced executives who choose to launch their next venture with Further will have access to product and engineering resources for concept development; seed capital required to take the business to Series A; and reserved capital for following on through multiple rounds of funding beyond capital investment.

Further ventures also has a dedicated team that provides legal and regulatory support, talent sourcing and recruitment, operations, and business development expertise with access to some of the largest organizations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as well as venture builders globally, as part of Further’s extensive network.

Further is focused on building, digital asset payments products, blockchain asset custody, security solutions, marketplaces, wallets and other infrastructure for institutions. In addition to Fintech, such as wealth management, SME finance, financial inclusion, remittance, and payroll .

Finally they will focus on supply chain examples of which include digital freight and warehouse management companies and other supply chain-related business.

In addition to launching its own ventures with founders, the firm will also establish the Further Network by actively investing in and co-creating start-ups with leading global venture builders.

Lawrence Summers, previous US Secretary of Treasury showcases his views on Crypto and Blockchain at UAE AIM summit 2022

Lawrence Summers, previous US Secretary of Treasury showcases his views on Crypto and Blockchain at UAE AIM summit 2022

Lawrence H. Summers, the renowned American economist who served as the 71st United States Secretary of Treasury from 1999-2001 under Bill Clinton, as well as the Director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama, will be offering his insights into the global economy and financial markets as well as his views on crypto and Blockchain during the 13th edition of AIM Summit being held on the 21st and 22nd of November 2022 in Dubai UAE.

AIM Summit is the region’s leading forum for providing insights on investment developments and global market conditions. This year, special emphasis is placed on the current global economy, inflation, stagflation and recession. Summers will provide his views on why the U.S. will likely be headed into a recession within the next two years. Summers will discuss how globalization, trade, and technology will play a pivotal role in the future of the global economy.

In 2021, Summers repeatedly called out the potential for inflation in U.S. while the U.S. Federal Reserve and many economists viewed rising prices as transitory.

Commenting on his participation at AIM Summit, Summers states, “Investors in alternative assets must navigate a challenging macroeconomic environment today and anticipate how it will impact their portfolios tomorrow. At the AIM Summit in Dubai, I will address some of the most pressing questions investors should be asking – will the Fed’s newfound hawkishness lead to a painful recession, or will they engineer a soft landing? Will we return to the post-2009 era of secular stagnation, or a new paradigm? Will prognostications of China’s economy overtaking America’s prove similar to those of Russia and Japan, which look ridiculous today?”

Raha Moradi, Chief Executive Officer of AIM Summit stated, “We are honoured as organizers of AIM Summit to be welcoming a well renowned economist and top U.S. ranking official such as Lawrence H. Summers. His views on U.S. and global inflation, recession, and world policies will offer our audience valuable information that will benefit their policies and strategies moving forward. Investors and policy makers alike across the GCC ad MENA region are invited to join us as we hear Summers’ predictive insights.”

The AIM summit gathers and connects investors within hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, digital assets, FinTech with global industry leaders. This year the Summit will cover topics pertaining to portfolio construction, emerging markets, frontier markets, private credit, hedge funds, the future of digital assets, NFTs, metaverse, crypto mining, ESG, impact investing and Web 3.

Audiences will also hear Summers’ views on crypto and Blockchain. Lawrence Summers, is currently an advisor for Digital Currency Group and a board member of Block.Inc, He is also well versed on the topics of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and CBDCs. In previous events and interviews, he has espoused his belief that cryptocurrencies will do better when regulated in a sound way. He has touted crypto as being one of the most important innovations of this period akin to Digital Gold, and praises stablecoins yet believes global digital currencies are still at a nascent stage. 

Abu Dhabi’s ADGM publishes virtual asset regulatory guidelines

Abu Dhabi’s ADGM publishes virtual asset regulatory guidelines

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre in Abu Dhabi, announced that its financial regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), has published Guiding Principles on its approach to virtual asset regulation and supervision as a way to outline its expectations for the asset class and service providers in the sector.

The principles state the FSRA’s risk appetite and priorities for the sector, with each principle covering one of the key pillars of ADGM’s holistic approach, which includes a robust and transparent regulatory framework; high standards of authorization; preventing money laundering and other financial crimes; risk-sensitive supervision; enforcement powers for regulatory breaches; and its commitment to international cooperation. They will therefore be of particular relevance to potential applicants to ADGM and other regulators with an interest in this area.

As per the document, The FSRA’s risk appetite for VA activities is such that it will only admit operators to its jurisdiction who at the outset can unequivocally meet the transparent, high standards outlined in its framework. This will maintain the best-in-class reputation of the ADGM ecosystem and instil market confidence to promote growth and investment. 

In addition the document discusses stablecoins, ADGM will only permit those tokens where price stability is maintained by the issuer holding the same fiat currency it purports to be tokenising on a fully backed 1:1 basis. This therefore currently prevents the use within ADGM of other types of stablecoins, such as algorithmic stablecoins.

Emmanuel Givanakis, CEO of the FSRA, said, “These guiding principles will provide greater clarity to investors, other regulators, industry and the wider public of our approach to regulation in this area and key expectations we have set on current virtual asset service providers in ADGM and potential applicants. They also outline the tools we have at our disposal to mitigate the material risks that are born from these activities and the regulatory powers to identify and act upon any misconduct. Consistent with the FSRA’s broader strategy to align with international best practices, these principles make clear the high standards of our framework at a time of increased volatility and regulatory focus.”

UAE takes top spot globally in attracting crypto FDI in 2022

UAE takes top spot globally in attracting crypto FDI in 2022

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.

Crypto ETP issuer sets up MENA base in UAE

Crypto ETP issuer sets up MENA base in UAE

21Shares, one of the largest issuers of cryptocurrency exchange traded products (ETPs), has expanded to the Middle East and hired Sherif El-Haddad, to Head the Middle East office from Dubai UAE.

As per the announcement, Sherif El-Haddad Crypto ETP issuer sets up MENA base in UAE joins 21Shares  in Dubai, where he will lead 21Shares’ market expansion in the region. 

El-Haddad previously served as Head of Asset Management at Al Mal Capital. Before that, he was the Managing Partner of Pearl Capital Management and led the asset management division of EFG Hermes for over 13 years. El-Haddad has extensive experience in the financial services sector across the Middle East and a broad set of capabilities and networks. El-Haddad holds an accounting degree from The American University in Cairo.

“In addition to Switzerland, where 21Shares is based, Dubai is one of the most exciting and favorable locations for crypto and blockchain businesses. As 21Shares embarks on its Middle East expansion, I am proud to be part of this growth journey. ” Sherif El-Haddad commented.

Commenting on the company’s new hires and market expansion, Isabell Moessler, Head of Distribution EMEA at 21Shares said: “We’re so glad to welcome Marina, Oliver and Sherif to our fast-growing team. Their experience will help us gain even more traction in our European core markets and begin our entrance into the Middle East.”

21Shares recently launched its Crypto Winter Suite, a set of products designed to help investors weather the bear market and provide various ways to enter the asset class. Recent product launches in the Crypto Winter Suite include the world’s cheapest Bitcoin ETP (CBTC) as well as two risk-controlled products, the 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Bitcoin Index ETP (SPBTC) and 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Ethereum Index ETP (SPETH).

Saudi Aramco invests millions into Blockchain smart contract provider

Saudi Aramco invests millions into Blockchain smart contract provider

For the fourth time since 2019, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco has participated in an investment round in Data Gumbo, the blockchain enabled smart contract provider. This time Data Gumbo raised 4 million USD in its Series C round led by Saudi Aramco Ventures and Equinor, Norway’s energy operator.

In 2019, Data Gumbo the Houston based blockchain Technology Company which had developed a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform to streamline smart contracts management for industrial customers, completed a 6 million USD Series A equity funding round co-led by Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, and Equinor.

Then in 2020, Data Gumbo, closed its Series B funding round of 4 million USD led by new investor L37, a Bay Area and Houston-based venture capital company, with Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures as a participant in the round.

In 2021 once more Data Gumbo closed a Series B funding round totaling 7.7 million USD with follow-on investments led by Equinor Ventures, and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures.

So far, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures has been one of the consistent investors in Data Gumbo. So it was no surprise to once again see Saudi Aramco invest in Data Gumbo’s Series C round, and be a lead investor as well. Saudi Aramco given the amount of investments raised to date by Data Gumbo, has definitely invested millions into the startup.

This funding round follows a year of impressive growth for Data Gumbo, which has introduced the first ever Smart Contract Marketplace with forty smart contract templates ready to be deployed for immediate reduction in transactional friction and grown to over 180 enterprises participating in Data Gumbo’s smart contract network.

Data Gumbo also opened its offices in KSA in 2022. At the time Data Gumbo stated that it was establishing a local presence to take advantage of the regional business opportunities ripe for smart contract network adoption.

Commenting on the recent fund raising, William Fox, CEO of Data Gumbo stated, “We have continued to lead the way in the adoption of smart contracts for industrial use. The partnership with Equinor and Saudi Aramco, and their associated supply chains and partnerships, will continue the momentum for the Data Gumbo’s smart contract network.”

By tapping into existing IIoT data sources to trigger confirmation and payment automation of contractual commercial terms, organizations are able to eliminate the time-consuming process of validating invoices and transactions and fully automating the procure-to-pay and order-to-cash processes. 

Data Gumbo plans to expand its reach, helping any organization who captures field data today to streamline their back office processes and realize time and cost savings.

“While we started in energy, we already have value for bulk commodity haulage, trucking and shipping, with plans to parlay our momentum into other global industries,” commented Andrew Bruce, Founder of Data Gumbo. “Wherever two or more organizations share a contractual relationship that can be verified with a digital source of data, opportunities abound to realize efficiencies and cost savings utilizing our blockchain network.”

Frank Andrasco, Senior Investment Director, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures stated, “Distributed ledger technologies bring win-win efficiencies between industrial companies and their suppliers, and Data Gumbo is at the forefront of introducing this innovation. While they have started in the energy sector, Data Gumbo’s platform has broad industrial applicability.”

To date Saudi Aramco’s Venture arm has participated in all the investment rounds of Data Gumbo, which  has raised a total of close to 21 million USD. One thing known for sure is that Saudi Aramco is backing the Blockchain smart contract service provider, and much more will be seen in the future.

Matcha Capital takes on Pakistan with investment in BitBlaze crypto exchange

Matcha Capital takes on Pakistan with investment in BitBlaze crypto exchange

Matcha Capital, a Blockchain crypto investment fund based out of Europe, soon to be opening its offices in Dubai  UAE within DMCC ( Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) has made a significant investment in BitBlaze crypto exchange start-up, which will be launching its presence in Pakistan.

Omar Rahim, Managing Partner of Matcha Capital stated on LinkedIN, “It has been a long time in the making but I am delighted to make public our investment into BitBlaze which will be launching a cryptocurrency exchange in Pakistan, the 5th most populous nation on earth!”

As per Rahim’s post BitBlaze will be powered by Binance Cloud.

Rahim who was previously the Regional Director for Binance in MENA is one of the first to invest in BitBlaze’s pre seed round, founded by Abdul Alim and Imran Rahim. Rahim will also take over the role as chairman of BitBlaze noting his prior experience in Binance. Matcha Capital when launched in  early 2022 had stated that the fund would be capped at around 60 million USD.

Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni, a leading UAE blockchain entrepreneur and expert and Founder of Dubai Blockchain Centre was also among the pre seed investors in BitBlaze.  

Rahim added on LinkedIn, “We were delighted to support Abdul Alim & Imran Rahim at the pre-seed stage. They’ve been working tirelessly in the background for months and I wish them all the best with their upcoming seed round”

Omar Rahim spoke to LaraontheBlock about this investment given the current bearish market. He noted, “ This is our biggest investment to date, even though the markets are reeling right now and many crypto companies are scaling back. Yet, we feel carefully planned investments can drive real value in these markets. These investments are great for the investor but more importantly great for the Startups because they are focused on building and not on token prices.”

As for why Pakistan, Rahim explains, “Pakistan continues to be a sleeping giant. As the 5th most populous nation on earth, the market is huge and in terms of crypto adoption is holds the top three position worldwide. People are just waking up to the potential that this exciting market offers and we want to lead the way in building crypto infrastructure in Pakistan.”

UAE Alawad Fund launches 300 million crypto mining and blockchain investment fund

UAE Alawad Fund launches 300 million crypto mining and blockchain investment fund

UAE Alawad Fund announced the launch of their 300 million USD Blockchain crypto investment fund which consists of two main sub funds. The first Fund is focused on cryptocurrency mining while the second is on crypto and Blockchain. The chairman of the fund is His Excellency Sheikh Alawad. As per the website the fund has gained regulatory approval out of DAFZA (Dubai Airport Free Zone). The CEO of the Fund is Jojo Jiang.

The fund is said to invest in virtual assets, blockchain startups, crypto exchanges, with a focus on Bitcoin mining. The Cryptocurrency Mining Sub-fund focuses on cryptocurrency miner supply chain finance and cryptocurrency mining farm constructions. As per an article on Bitcoinist, ” The first Fund is a total of 300 million USD.”

The second sub fund is the investment fund, which will invest in project with sufficient industry experience. The main investment areas are Web 3.0, Metaverse, GameFi & DAO. 10 percent of fund will be allocated to the above and 90 percent will be quantitative investment using statistical algorithms and machine learning.

Currently AlAwad Fund has made investments in two entities, MBTC Mining and Ankots. MBTC mining is a next Generation Crypto providing a Cross-chain Trust Standard in the Metaverse. MBTC mining requires hash power from NFT miners using next-gen proof-of-NFT validation with zero energy consumption. The maximum supply of MBTC is 21,000,000. Mining rewards are 50MBTC per 10mins initially and will be halved every four years.

Ankots is a gameFi play to Earn platform that utilizes NFTs.

UAE ChainTech Labs launches first reward bearing tokens marketplace from DIFC

UAE ChainTech Labs launches first reward bearing tokens marketplace from DIFC

ChainTech Labs, the first Reward Bearing tokens marketplace, with custom smart contracts and vaulting technologies that will enable startups and SMEs to get funded utilizing a novel token issuing framework, has launched out of UAE specifically out of DIFC (Dubai International Financial Center).

On its twitter page it states that it is the first DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) out DIFC in UAE.

As per their website, ChainTech builds next generation Dapps for government agencies, global conglomerates and companies operating in over 40 different industries. The company also manages NFT communities. They state that the “total token market cap under their command reached 100,000,000 USD in June 2022.

They have developed BAPESCLAN which is a metavestor NFT DAO with a total market cap of 60,000,000. Minting officially started today. They also have developed BLOODLINES™, the first decentralized animated series, created and owned by its holders, that bridges the gap between Hollywood and Web 3.

Their product offering includes ChainLaunch a Launchpad for highly professional NFT projects and companies with a major focus on metaverse play-to-earn gaming, ChainRescue™ an NFT consultancy service that assists and embraces NFT projects and their communities with promising missed potential, ChainVest™, the world’s first marketplace for Reward Bearing Tokens (RBTs) that enables startups and SMEs to raise capital like never before. RBTs provide holders with access points in the metaverse to earn rewards, ChainReality™ a realistic digital twin of our world, also known as a meta-world. It is built entirely on Unreal Engine 5 with realistic avatars created with Metahuman.

In addition they have developed ChainCapital™, the world’s first DAO Metafund powered by fractionalized ownership, facilitating the fundamental concept of distribution of wealth and power and ChainPaid™ a service that enables private and business payments of any bill or invoice using any cryptocurrency. There has never been a smoother way to pay for anything then now.

Above and beyond all this, in a twitter teaser they announced that they will be partnering with Dubai Blockchain Center and will announce this during the Dubai Fintech Week on the 28th and 29th of June. Both Dr. Marwan Alzarouni, CEO at the Dubai Blockchain Center, and Erik Lydecker, MD at Chaintech Labs Limited will be present.