UAE Helion Ventures investment, is heading to Beirut Lebanon for a round table meeting on May 11th at Beirut Digital District. Helion launched its operations in Dubai’s DIFC in September 2022 focusing on four major sectors, banking 3.0, healthcare, tokenization of real world assets, green technology, gaming, and fintech in projects across the GCC and African region. The founders, Oliver von Wolff and Bojan al Pinto Brkic, have long-term experience in venture capital and regulated products. Oliver von Wolff, Founder and CEO, at launch stated, “Our products and services perfectly complement the ecosystem for Dubai start-ups, we are a classic equity provider and venture builder with focus on institutional investors”, to which Bojan added “we intend to capitalize on our experience, bringing the investment management know-how to new industries, such are blockchain and fintech, and even gaming and crypto.” It is not surprising to see Helion Ventures off to Beirut, given that they are o

  UAE and USA based C1 Secondary’s Fund managed by C1 Investment Advisors LLC, a team of international entrepreneurs and investors, have announced a $500 million investment fund targeting secondary’s in blockchain, crypto, Web3, and Fintech entities. Secondary funds, commonly referred to as secondaries or continuation transactions, purchase existing interests or assets from primary private equity fund investors. For example, a primary private equity fund may purchase a stake in a private company, and then sell that interest to a secondary buyer. The C1 Secondary’s Fund is a regulated private investment fund formed for the purpose of investing in secondary’s asset acquisition – the purchase of shares in existing private growth companies.     The C1 Fund portfolio focuses on digital assets, blockchain technology and applications, cryptocurrency services (not direct investment in cryptocurrencies), Web3 financial applications, and advanced FinTech.  Sample target company applications

    Canadian, Spirit Blockchain Capital, an entity operating in the Blockchain and Digital Asset sectors with the primary goal of creating value in a rapidly growing environment through recurring cash flows and capital appreciation and UAE based Masary Capital, consulting platform for blockchain and metaverse, sign MOU to partner to bring DeFi, Web3, and crypto asset management services in UAE.   Masary Capital will allow Spirit Blockchain to provide an optimal environment for global Blockchain enterprises and growth for Spirit’s shareholders. Under the strategic partnership agreement, Spirit will leverage its relationship with Masary Capital to grow its presence in the Middle East and it will use Masary Capital as the advisory provider with respect to any potential growth within the region. In addition, Spirit will support Masary Capital’s Dubai Blockchain and Metaverse Strategy by providing assistance for important Web3 infrastructure projects, including public blockchain, sc

  In less than a week apart Dubai’s DMCC has signed two major partnership agreements, the first with South Korean entities KBIPA and Seongnam City who are in the blockchain and metaverse industries, and secondly with nya Labs. Founded by a team of Stanford faculty and alumni, Enya Labs is a leading developer of decentralised infrastructure solutions, and is a core contributor to Boba Network. With regards to the first partnerships DMCC signed MoUs with the Korea Blockchain Industry Promotion Association (KBIPA) and Seongnam City during DMCC’s Made for Trade Live roadshows in South Korea. Both MoUs seek to advance the development and application of Web3 technologies globally, including through affording growth opportunities to South Korean Web3 companies by supporting them in setting up at the DMCC Crypto Centre, and its new Gaming Centre. Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC, said: “DMCC is committed to supporting high-growth sectors such as the W

  UK investment company InfoDriver Capital is launching a $10 million fund for DeFi, GameFi and AI startups targeting UAE, UK, Europe and USA. The company has expertise in supply chain solutions, automated lending platforms, exchanges, DeFi, and AI applications including digital identity, authentication, content generation, and has already developed successful technology products over seven years. InfoDriver Capital anticipates a 3-5x return on investment in just 2-4 years and is currently seeking experienced and accredited investors with a minimum investment requirement of $100,000. The investment strategy charges only 5% investments and diversifies the total portfolio of the startups from Seed to A round with a working revenue model and user base. According to Kirill Mishanin, CEO and Founder of InfoDriver Capital stated, “Investing in startups in the Web3 space is a wise decision, as it is the future of the internet. InfoDriver Capital is committed to shaping that future by su

  WEMADE, the South Korean game developer shifting to blockchain NFTs, DeFi and metaverse has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with KSA based Nine66, a Savvy Games Group ("Savvy") company, to drive the development of the gaming industry in Saudi Arabia. Savvy's long-term objective is to drive the long-term growth and development of the games and e-sports sectors in Saudi Arabia. The group consists of five independent entities covering areas such as game development, e-sports, investments and more. KSA based Nine66 is committed to building and investing in the thriving gaming ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. Nine66 is driving growth and success in the region's gaming industry through a range of initiatives and partnerships, such as publishing, incubator and accelerator programs, training and events, as well as supporting virtual and real-life game development communities. Saudi Arabia is a strong foothold in the Middle East's gaming market, with over 80% of its

  UAE based Venom Ventures Fund, a Web3 and blockchain innovation fund managed by Abu Dhabi-based investment fund manager Iceberg Capital Limited, has invested $5 million in Everscale, a premier blockchain platform that aims to solve the scalability issues bogging down the Web3 industry. The $5 million will be used by Everscale to expand its development teams and boost the number of projects. Everscale has been diligently working on expanding its reach and integrating its technology solutions in Asian countries over the past two years, while also building a strong community. Its dynamic sharding technology enables it to efficiently adapt to varying workloads, thus making it an easy and practical option for creating large-scale Web3 and other types of applications. Venom Ventures Fund Chairman Peter Knez, ex-CIO of BlackRock, said, “For us, this is a strategic investment aimed at the technological development of projects and teams around technologies that we focus on and actively

In a recent survey entitled “MENA Investor Survey 2022-2023 for crypto Blockchain sector” carried out by laraontheblock with 83 MENA venture capitalists, fund managers, and family offices, 50% of those surveyed stated they will be allocating more funds to blockchain and crypto projects and entities in 2023. 19% of those surveyed stated in 2022 they had invested more than 50% of allocated capital and funds into crypto and Blockchain projects. The findings of the “MENA Investor Survey 2022-2023 for crypto Blockchain sector” sheds light on the different areas of interest for MENA investors which will give startups and entities a better view on whom and where capital will be heading by investors in the MENA region. This comes as cryptocurrency adoption has skyrocketed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. According to a survey by blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis, MENA countries have the fastest-growing cryptocurrency industry in the world, accounting for 9.2% o

  As HE Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications participated in the WEF session  'Finding the right balance for crypto'  announcing that the UAE has not licensed a single crypto exchange, concurrently the Dubai based Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA)   affirmed this on its website in its latest announcement. Al Olama told audiences at WEF, that the regulations in UAE are not light. There are extensive regulations at VARA. He affirmed, “ UAE has not issued a single licensed crypto exchange in UAE neither Binance nor FTX.” He explained that there is a four step process  and to date, “no one was able to onboard any customers even last week.” Concurrently VARA stated on its website, “VARA has not granted any operating permits to date this is a four stage licensing process” VARA’s website explained, that the VARA regime is founded on the principles on enforcing responsible market participation bac

  In what seems to be a great start for Blockchain and Web3 ecosystem in the MENA region, the first $1 billion fund was announced by UAE based Venom Foundation and Iceberg Capital under Venom Ventures Fund. As per the press release , Venom Ventures Fund is allocating $1 billion to invest in Web3, blockchain and cryptocurrency projects and services. This is the first $1 billion fund for Web3 and Blockchain to originate from the MENA region. Prior to this UAE Cypher Capital had announced its allocation of $200 million for Blockchain, Web3 and Crypto at the end of 2022 and Shurooq Partners had allocated $150 million for the same. Venom Foundation is the first Layer-1 blockchain licensed and regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). In October 2022, Venom Foundation added a regulated virtual asset exchange to its roster. The UAE based exchange formerly known as Yoshi Markets was re-names to Venomex. Venomex had received financial services permission from FSRA at ADGM allowing

  On the LinkedIn page of Henson Orser, it states that he is the CEO (Chief executive Officer) of Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority better known as VARA as of January 2023. This comes as VARA reveals its final crypto framework in the next few weeks.   Previously Orser had held the position of President and Acting CEO of Komainu and was the Co Head of Global markets for Japanese digital bank Nomura. As most know, VARA was created in March 2022 to regulate the virtual assets ecosystem and grant blockchain and crypto licenses in Dubai. A graduate of Princeton University, Orser is VARA’s first CEO.   Orser is well versed on digital assets, and custody solutions given his former role at Komainu. It is noteworthy that Komainu is one of the few Blockchain enabled DeFi custodians with a presence in Dubai that has been granted an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) license. The only other one is HEX Trust. While VARA's website has yet to note the new appointment, in an interview with

Born in the USA and raised in Beirut Lebanon until she was a teenager, Nadine Chakar, a US national of Lebanese origin, later attended university in the US. Her parent are both doctors yet Nadine is a well renowned financial and technology executive and is recognized as one of the most powerful women in finance. She has been a vocal champion for using tech to revolutionize financial services.  Nadine Chakar will be joining Securrency, a leading developer of institutional-grade, blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology, as Chief Executive Officer effective January 9th, 2023. Ms. Chakar brings over 30 years of experience in global wealth and asset management to Securrency. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President and Head of State Street Digital, where she built and led the team that is helping State Street, institutional investors, and regulators successfully navigate the bank's transition into a modern digital economy. Ms. Chakar also led State Street Globa

  On October 27 th 2022, Q9 Capital published a press release where they unilaterally announced that they had received a provisional virtual asset approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). LaraontheBlock since then has continuously been checking VARA’s website and no Q9 to be seen anywhere. Q9 is a crypto investment management platform offering capabilities to crypto and TradFi firms. So it should be on VARA’s website under TradFi, DeFi Asset Managers section, but it isn’t. VARA lists all the entities which have applied for a license and have provisional approval. So for example on VARA’s website under Native Crypto Exchanges, users can see Binance [Issued MVP Licence], BitOasis, Bybit, CoinMENA, Crypto.com, FTX Exchange FZE [Suspended MVP License], GCEX, Huobi, MidChains and OKX. Then under TradFi DeFi Custodians, you have the recently approved Hex Trust [Issued MVP Licence], Komainu [Issued MVP Licence] and then you have those who applied and have a provi

Dubai's regulator is currently pushing forth its crypto custodial licenses. Last week VARA ( Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority) provided Komainu DeFi, digital asset custodian with a provisionary license and today it has provided Hex Trust, fully licensed and insured provider of bank-grade custody and associated services for digital assets a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) license.  The MVP license will allow Hex Trust to provide a wide range of virtual asset services to institutional clients and sophisticated investors] in Dubai within its framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The range of services Hex Trust can now provide includes Virtual Assets custodial services, Broker-Dealer Services and Staking Services.   Hex Trust opened its Dubai office in June 2022, which is run by Filippo Buzzi, and serves as its headquarters for the MENA region. Filippo Buzzi, Regional Director MENA of Hex Trust, commented, “Becoming one of the first virtual asset companies and cu

  Komainu, listed on VARA website as a DeFi (Decentralized Finance) digital asset custodian has received its minimum viable product license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). This is following the issuance of its provisional approval in July 2022. This is a interesting development given the recent FTX scandal and the migration of crypto wallets from centralized exchanges to self custody. Komainu can now offer an approved range of virtual asset related services to institutional investors in Dubai within an internationally benchmarked legislative framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) following completion of its readiness requirements. The transition to an MVP license, from a provisional approval received earlier this year, means the firm can provide institutional clients in the UAE with Virtual Assets Custodial Services and Virtual Assets Management Services. Komainu MEA is the first ‘dedicated’ institutional digital asset custodian to receive

  Dubai VC Helion Ventures has partnered and invested in VMeta3, the First High-Poly Modeling Technique Metaverse to provide a life-like experience with “Any-Fi” economic incentive into the new mindset of Behavior to Earn.   VMeta3 is the first metaverse related project to be part of Helion Ventures. VMeta3 envisions a world where users can freely create and explore digital worlds, own virtual property, conduct business, buy and sell goods, interact with the AI of their digital avatars, and much more. The Co-Founder and CEO of Helion Ventures Oliver von Wolff stated,   “The metaverse is the next big thing in web3 and it is exciting to get on board its growth by investing in an interesting and creative project such as VMeta3”. Jobs Chang, Founder and CEO of VMeta3   adds,   “The Dubai Metaverse Strategy aims to turn Dubai into one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community, and we are pleased to receive investment and partner with

Alex Tapscott, author of Digital Asset Revolution and co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, hails Web3 and blockchain start-up, PermianChain for bringing the digital asset revolution to the natural resource sectors. Chapter 7 is dedicated to how blockchain creates value through natural asset tokens (NATs), mainly in oil and natural gas. Mohamed El-Masri, Founder and CEO of PermianChain and CEO of Brox Equity, explains the mechanics behind energy tokenization within a blockchain-enabled ecosystem.  El-Masri discusses how utilization of blockchain is changing the way exploration and production companies raise capital as well as how investors and consumers participate in a digital energy market with surplus or shortage.  PermianChain’s solution is a digital platform combining a blockchain, decentralized cloud storage and Web3 compatible features that supports two forms of digital economics, one being a security token and the other being a utility token. Chapter 7 of Digital Ass