UAE’s government of Sharjah has honored its partners with the first Soul NFT (Non Fungible Token) plaque. Sharjah became the first in the world to introduce NFTs with SBT technology as its Higher Committee of the Government of Sharjah at GITEX Global 2022 honored the participants, supporting entities, departments, and media outlets for their contribution in the success of Sharjah’s participation in the global event with Soul NFT plaques.   Sheikh Saud bin Sultan Al Qasimi - Chairman of the Higher Committee for the Government of Sharjah at GITEX Technology Week 2022, Director of the Sharjah Digital Office, gifted the supporting entities non-fungible tokens digital trophies (NFTs) using Soul Bound Tokens (SBTs) technology, replacing traditional appreciation plaques for the first time ever in the world. A trophy is an NFT stored in a digital ledger, whose identity can be verified via the blockchain system.   SBT’s are digital identity tokens that represent the traits, features,

    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 comment

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 Communic

  UAE investment firm specializing in digital assets and blockchain technology, MorningStar has invested 5 million to open its first interactive and immersive digital art gallery, called ‘37xDubai. The NFT digital art gallery is located in the Burj Daman Tower (DIFC area), 37xDubai will be at the heart of Dubai’s business and lifestyle center as it opens its doors in Q1 of 2023. As per the press release, the global NFT market is projected to reach 23.9% between 2022 and 2028. In the UAE, 23% of people own at least one NFT, ranking the region first compared to Europe (8%) and the U.S. (2.8%). MoMa, Sotheby’s, and other institutional players in the art scene have also opened NFT or Metaverse-related initiatives or shown interest in the space over the past years. 37xDubai aims to be a bridge across Art and Technology, thereby bringing a new concept to the market focused on web3 education, traditional art, digital art, entertainment, and community. Featured artists will be able to

  UAE based Blockchain enterprise, Shaariq.com, an end-to-end real estate platform of Vision Tech has partnered with Pakistan-headquartered JK&S Developers, a real estate arm of the renowned Saif Group. to facilitate sales in JK&S Developers’ highly anticipated project D.I. Khan New City. Shaariq.com will leverage its enterprise blockchain capabilities to ensure secure, transparent, and seamless transactions. Shaariq.com will also ensure D.I. Khan New City becomes an early mover in adopting blockchain at an enterprise level. Shaariq.com will create a digital twin of the project in the metaverse to enable efficient urban planning and optimize the delivery of public services such as healthcare and groceries. NFT linked transactions on the blockchain will bring greater security, transferability, and future readiness. D.I. Khan New City will also characterize AR-VR and AI applications on multiple fronts. Dubbed the “Crown of Pakistan”, the D.I. Khan New City is a hybrid develop

    Coca-Cola and Crypto.com, sponsor of Qatar World Cup 2022, have teamed up to launch an NFT collection inspired by the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. The collection, created in collaboration with digital artist GMUNK, is based on “heat maps” that visually represent the movements and highlights of the tournament’s players. GMUNK has created 10,000 NFTs based on these heat maps, which will be available to fans on the Crypto.com NFT platform from May 1 to July 31, 2022.   To access the NFT collection, fans will need to create an account on the Crypto.com NFT platform and visit Coca-Cola’s fan zone page to mint a token. The Coca-Cola fan zone is a digital hub for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup that offers fans the opportunity to experience thrills, excitement, games, and moments to remember during the tournament.   In addition to the NFT collection, the fan zone includes leaderboards, pledges, and predictions, allowing fans to compete with each other and interact with the tournament

  The second annual conference Decipher, by the Algorand Foundation is being held today until the 30 th of November at Madinat Jumeirah Conference & Events Centre in Dubai, UAE.   The Algorand Foundation's mission is to grow and empower the ecosystem around Algorand-the leading carbon-negative Layer-1 blockchain-and Decipher's programming will highlight top founders and investors from both within and beyond the Algorand network. The event will witness more   than 120 speakers across four stages and 50 sessions. Registrants will also be able to sign up for one-on-one mentoring with blockchain leaders, learn to set up wallets and experience play-to-earn games, explore a high-end curated NFT art gallery, take part in hands-on workshops designed for developers and led by the engineers and product leaders behind the Algorand protocol, and more. Topics include Financial Inclusion at Scale: A World Tour featuring Sanzar Kakar, Founder of HesabPay; Victor Mapunga, Co-Founder &

  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

    The Abu Dhabi Finance Week witnessed a lot of announcements including Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) crypto hub the second crypto hub in UAE after Dubai’s Digital Assets Business Group and the crypto center in Dubai Multi Commodities Centre DMCC in Dubai.  As per the announcement, given the rapid emergence of new virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies and other related assets, ADGM is leading the way to introduce progressive frameworks and regulations around these technologies and developments. The launch of “Abu Dhabi Crypto Hub” is therefore an important representation of the strategic initiatives taken by ADGM in support of economic diversification and the growing role of Abu Dhabi as a financial hub, addressing the current and future needs of the market through innovative technologies. Crypto Abu Dhabi served as a vital platform to facilitate the assembly of the global crypto, blockchain and decentralized finance entities and elaborated on some of the most disruptive f

  Visa the Official Payment Technology Partner of FIFA unveiled Visa Masters of Movement, a first-of its-kind hybrid experience featuring a pre-event NFT auction and immersive activation for fans at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. The Visa Masters of Movement auction features digital art inspired by iconic goals from five legendary footballers that have been minted into unique NFTs, available on Crypto.com. Later this month, the experience will come to life on an interactive pitch at the FIFA Fan Festival™ in Doha, Qatar and allow fans to create digital art inspired by their own signature movements.  Eligible fans will have the option to mint this digital art into their own NFT in partnership with Crypto.com, the official cryptocurrency trading platform sponsor of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. Visa states, “As FIFA World Cup 2022™ approaches, we want to celebrate football, art and technology through the lens of what makes the FIFA World Cup™ so special – wildly impassioned fans, legend

  UK based Blockchain company Valereum has received consent from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (“GFSC”) to complete the acquisition of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (“GSX”). Valereum will utilize GSX to expand access of early stage and small cap companies in the Middle East, India and Africa to European Capital. In early 2022, Valereum stated that it would be purchasing 90% of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) to create the world's first bourse where shares and crypto assets can be traded Valereum at the time stated that GSX would the first fully regulated bridge that links the fiat and crypto markets. As they noted at the time, "This will give listed instruments on the GSX access to a regulated pool of crypto capital that is not available anywhere else, and it will give cryptocurrency holders the ability to have a direct, verifiable holding in fiat securities." The recent press release notes that there is a significant gap in the available small cap m

  UAE Dubai Future District Fund, e&Capital ( formerly known as etisalat group) as well as other well renowned VC funds have invested $20 million in Web3 metaverse social app content provider VUZ. The series B investment round included international investors such as Caruso Ventures, Vision Ventures VC Fund, SRMG , Panthera Capital, Faith Capital and Webit Investment network. In addition to the new investors, VUZ formerly known as 360VUZ is backed by investors such as Knollwood Investment Advisory, AlTouq Group, Impact46, UAE Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Media Visions, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, DAI, Al Falaj, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin, DTEC Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Al Rashid family and other strategic angel investors. With this round, VUZ is now backed by a mix of investors based in the US and EMEA that will play a major role in supporting VUZ in its international expansion. VUZ bridges the gap between the physical and virtual worlds to offer pre

    Dubai based Ultron Foundation, a Blockchain DeFi entity is sponsoring the Future Blockchain Summit being organized by DWTC in partnership with VARA (Virtual assets Regulatory Authority) from October 10-13 th 2022 Ultron CEO, Shukhrat Shadibekov, stated, “We highly respect the people behind the Future Blockchain Summit. It is a brilliant idea to gather Blockchain companies and give them a venue where they can explore and share innovations (to fellow experts and enthusiasts) in the ever-evolving tech industry. We are happy to be included here, as the fastest growing layer-1 blockchain company is an honor for Ultron Foundation.” Ultron will discuss at Gitex the latest developments in NFT and metaverse as well as the utility of Ultron’s Blockchain network. The Ultron Football Metaverse project with Devla will be launched in the coming months. It will allow the players to play, strategize, and earn passive rewards. The features and the structure of the game give much anticipati

  At one point in all of our lives, we have either deleted important messages we received by accident, or lost all our whatsapp conversations, and maybe even wished we knew how to find an important message on discord, telegram, or even a Web3 communication app we were using.   Well this has now been resolved with the advent of a Web3 blockchain enabled, ‘Eternal Message’ Today more than 3 billion people worldwide are using messaging apps, sending an average of 145 billion messages every day. While the majority of these messages are insignificant, some are very important to those sending and receiving them. While Web3 messaging apps have come to resolve the issues of security and privacy, as well as offer fully encrypted and stored messages on the blockchain, yet none of them has thought about eternally capturing those we deem important so we can retrieve them easily later on. In an interview with LaraontheBlock Mohamed Abdou Founder and CEO of Egyptian headquartered and UAE based

  KSA’s Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Developer will drop a limited number of utility NFTs ( Non   fungible tokens) for its Oman AIDA project. The comments were made in an interview with AGBI media. The $1.6 billion project AIDA, is the largest premium, mixed-use urban developments in Oman. It is a partnership between Dar Al Arkan and the Oman Tourism Development Company (OMRAN Group) to drive the development of the Gulf state’s property market and support the growth of Oman’s real estate sector as part of Oman Vision 2040. Ziad El Chaar, vice chairman of Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development, said in the interview , “We are dropping 500 NFTs in the middle of October, which are utility tokens for our project AIDA in Oman.   If you are a holder of that NFT, you have a priority in booking in any launch of the project. This has a lot of value. He added that those who booked in Dar Al Arkan Pagani project in December made 25 percent profit as prices went up. The NFT will also give holde

  UAE virtual asset regulator in Abu Dhabi,   FSRA (Financial Services Regulatory Authority) of ADGM ( Abu Dhabi Global Market) has enhanced its capital markets framework, allowing for the trading of NFTs   (Non Fungible tokens) on virtual asset regulated platforms, This means that MTFs/Custodians (Multilateral trading Facilities) operating within ADGM are now able to seek approval from the FSRA to engage in Non-Fungible Token (NFT) activities. As per the news, these are considered significant enhancements to its capital markets framework, across spot commodities, securities, derivatives, benchmarks, environmental instruments and virtual assets that will further improve on its innovative and progressive regime and leadership in financial markets. Alongside its innovative approach to virtual assets, the ADGM has now implemented its regulatory framework for spot commodity and environmental instrument activities, making it the first international financial centre in the MENA region to

  UAE University of Sharjah has launched a research project aimed to develop a blockchain metaverse system to preserve the UAE culture and heritage. Working with BSV Blockchain Association, the University of Sharjah plans to retain ownership of UAE culture in the form of digital assets, and then develop an NFT and physical marketplace where users can exchange physical originals as well as NFTs all in a metaverse environment. Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies at The University of Sharjah noted that this was a very pragmatic use case utilizing technologies such as Blockchain, metaverse and NFTs. He states, “The University is serving the community and UAE’s national economy by implementing the vision of the Emirate of Sharjah as well as the UAE in documenting and preserving our history and heritage in both tangible and intangible formats.”   Mr. Jimmy Nguyen, Bitcoin Association for BSV Founding President, added "We are very excited and plea

  F2o Designs Shop and F2o Studio founded by Kuwaiti national Fatima Fawzi Alothman launches the idea of bringing the GCC Arab cultural element of Dewaniya to the NFT (Non Fungible Token) Web3 world Fatima, who currently resides in UAE, is a freelance illustrator specializing in character design, children's books illustration editorial and advertisement illustrations. She also offers traditional animation services. She holds bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the American University of Sharjah and a Master’s degree in fine arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA. For those unfamiliar with both the Arabic term and the cultural social aspect of Dewaniya here is a small explanation. A   Dewaniya is a place where friends and people from the community gather to discusses ideas and spread messages related to both local and international issues, and even circulate jokes. It’s where voices are heard, echoed, and taken to further places. It is the wei

  UAE Etihad Airlines has officially announced the release of its first NFT collection for sale under the name “EY-ZERO1”. On the Etihad website the airline announced that its collection is now on sale. As per the website announcement, “Aviation enthusiasts now have the chance to own digital 3D aircraft models showcasing our ten special liveries across our Dreamliner fleet. Each NFT comes with immediate Etihad Guest Silver status as well as other benefits.” The announcement goes on to list all the reasons for purchasing Etihad’s NFT collection. First is that the NFTs are a   unique piece of art in limited numbers, purchases will also have immediate Etihad Guest Silver status benefits as well as additional prizes for first time owners. The EY-ZERO1 sale has started with a limited number of to 2003 collectibles, each NFT is priced at US$349 (+ local sales tax). The sale will close on 18 August 2022 at 2pm UTC with all remaining unsold NFTs eliminated from the collection. The numb

  Luna PR founder and CEO, Nikita Sachdev has announced that Luna PR, a PR and Marketing agency focused on blockchain and crypto has acquired the franchise for Cointelegraph MENA. As posted on her LinkedIn Feed , “We are celebrating a huge milestone! I’m proud to announce our acquisition of Cointelegraph MENA.” She added, “The goal is mass adoption of blockchain, which will revolutionize the way every industry functions today. Building awareness of blockchain in MENA has always been of utmost importance to us. We want other web3 projects globally to know about what the Middle East has to offer. We hope to do just that.” Nikita told LaraontheBlock, " I did this because I realize the potential in the Middle East and I want more projects to see what this region has to offer. We will most likely officially launch by next month." Cointelegraph is a global Blockchain crypto emerging FinTech media platform that was launched in 2013. Its presence now in the MENA region is a testame