BITMAIN, crypto mining leading ASIC manufacturer enters MENA through a collaboration with Oman’s Blockchain Data center and technology park Exahertz and MoonWalk. This collaboration marks a significant leap forward as Exahertz takes on the role of hosting upwards of 10,000 state-of-the-art BITMAIN machines in the pioneering Exahertz Technology Park, nestled in Salalah, Oman. According to the press release, “This isn’t just any partnership, it’s BITMAIN‘s first-ever hosting venture in the Middle East and a groundbreaking initiative for hydro computers worldwide. The Exahertz Technology Park, standing tall as the Middle East’s largest private Blockchain Data center, underscores Exahertz’ unwavering commitment to innovation and progress.” Exahertz International, recently kicked off a pilot phase of Exahertz Technology Park in Salalah. In collaboration with their strategic partners Moonwalk Systems, they rigorously testing and optimizing the hydro systems to ensure peak perfor...

    In a news piece on Oman News agency, the Board of governors of the Central Bank of Oman, held their third meeting for 2023 where the followed up on developments as well as reviewed the international stance on cryptocurrencies as well as related studies conducted by the executive management team at the central bank on cryptocurrencies. This comes as Oman works on its virtual asset regulations, having   at the end of July 2023 announced a public consultation paper on virtual assets regulatory framework by the Oman Capital Market Auhtority. The Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman (CMA), which regulates and develops Oman's financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, had earlier announced its plans to establish the new regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities such as crypto assets, tokens, crypto exchanges, and initial...

  As part of the strategy to build  crypto mining datacentres in Oman, the first phase of Asyad Group crypto mining center was launched in the Free zone in Salalah. Built and managed by Exahertz, a subsidiary of Afaq Advance Technologies firm, the first phase was inaguarated during a ceremony attended by top Omani governmental officials. The ceremony was held under the auspices of Eng. Said Hamoud Al Ma’awali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology. It was attended by HH Sayyid Marwan Turki Al Said, Governor of Dhofar. The ceremony included the inauguration of a pilot facility for the first phase of the project on the centre for data processing and hosting of cryptocurrency mining. During the event the second phase of the project was also launched. Al Ma’awali stated, “The inauguration of the first phase of the project reflects the ministry's keenness on promoting digital investment and localizing advanced technologies. He added that the com...

  While the Oman Capital Markets Authority awaits feedback for its virtual assets framework consultation paper, it has approved registry of Oman’s Easy Coins, a non custodial crypto provider, as the first VASP in the country. Easy Coins has been operating in Oman for over two years. In December 2022 Easy Coins launched its trial of Tether USDT on the Tron Blockchain. Accordingly Easy Coin users in Oman could purchase TRC20 USDT. Prior to that The Oman Water and Waste Water Services Company ( OWWSC), member of Nama Group, trialed its stablecoin linked to the Oman Riyal. The company signed an MOU with Oman based Digital Digits, the creators of Easy coins and Connected Chains to trial “ Hasalah” a stablecoin Wallet. Easy Coins was launched in Oman in June 2021, as a non custodial crypto Brokerage platform, The platform is powered by Quantoz Blockchain Technology for financial services, and running on Nexus from connectedChains and supported by ThawaniPay. Given that Easy Co...

  The Blockchain related job market in the GCC MENA region is growing, and salaries differ between varying GCC countries depending on need, and availability. According to Salary Explorer 2023 reports, the average blockchain developer salary in the UAE per month is $3348 ( 12,300 AED), in Oman $3922 ( 1,510 OMR ), in KSA $3945 (14,800 SAR), in Qatar $3597 (13,100 QAR), in Bahrain $3630   ( 1,370 BHD), while in Egypt and Morocco the average salary is $266 ( 8,230 EGP), and $1810 ( 17,500 MAD). Interestingly others have noted that the average crypto salary per month in Dubai is $6582. As per their report salary estimates are based on anonymous submissions by cryptos, website users collected in Dubai from past and present job posts. Concurringly a number of entities in the UAE are requesting job positions. One example is Crypto.com that is hiring a Web3 senior regulatory reporting analyst, in Dubai. Recently as wel the Commercial Bank of Dubai was searching for Head of CB...

At the end of July 2023, the Oman Capital Market Authority issued a Public Consultation Paper on its Virtual Assets Regulatory Framework. The Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman (CMA), which regulates and develops Oman's financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, had earlier announced its plans to establish the new regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). As per the Oman Capital Market Authority announcement, the entity is currently in the process of drafting the comprehensive and facilitative regulatory framework, which will include a new regulation to cover all virtual assets activities, a licensing framework for all VASP categories and a supervisory framework to identify, assess, and mitigate ongoing risks. This is being done after the CMA had made an extensive global analysis and benchmarking with other jurisdictions. The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities such as ...

  A new report entitled, “Disrupt and Innovate: Harness the power of blockchain” published by Singapore Agile Dynamics, a research based consultancy services, blockchain technology will boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by US$2.1 trillion of the projected global GDP in 2030. Approximately half (49%) of the US$2.1 trillion will come from growth markets. This is especially important finding given the growth of blockchain implementation in the GCC and MENA region. Countries such as Qatar, KSA , UAE , and even Oman are building their capacities and use cases utilizing emergent technologies such as blockchain, AI, IoT and others, and their GDPs will be positively affected. As per the report as well, customized layer 1 blockchain protocol offers potential benefits such as increased financial inclusion, reduced transaction costs, and improved transparency - all of which align with the concept of technology sovereignty. It empowers entities to have ownership and control of th...

    Oman’s Green Data City, the first data center in Oman to obtain a crypto mining license will have full blockchain capacity in 2023. The datacenter which is nestled in Salalah region of Oman, harnesses its coastal location to utilize renewable energy sources. As per a report in Oxford Business group, the project is set to receive more than $3.2 billion as part of Vision 2040 and is expected to reach full blockchain capacity in 2023. The MTCIT announced in December 2022 that it secured OR150m ($390m) in investment from a consortium of local and foreign financiers to develop a large-scale data center at Green Data City. The investment is earmarked for the processing and hosting data; and the adoption of distributed ledger technologies, blockchain and financial technology. In an interview with Said Abdullah Al Mandhari ,CEO of Oman ICT Group, he noted that advanced technologies and blockchain, in particular, have enormous potential to enhance Oman’s long-term economic...

  Oman based Mamun to develop secondary token crowd funding market after receiving license from Oman Capital Market Authority Oman based Mamun, has been awarded a full crowd funding license by Oman’s Capital Market Authority, with plans to offer a crowd funding token based secondary market utilizing its recent partnership with Fasset token exchange platform. The recent license is also a pre-approval for a PSP (Payment Service Provider) license by the Central Bank of Oman. As a fintech infrastructure-as-a-service provider, Mamun offers a proprietary technology platform that empowers telecommunication companies, banks, and large startups with the tools and capabilities necessary to roll out fintech services and products, including popular solutions like Foodics. Excitingly, Mamun has recently announced a strategic partnership with Fasset, a renowned innovator in the field. This collaboration aims to co-create advanced products that further enhance Mamun's holistic approach to ...

  Unilaterally, Fasset, a digital asset exchange platform with a vision to offer affordable and frictionless gateway for people in emerging markets to own and grow their wealth in digital assets has announced  that it has been granted an Initial Approval for a Full Market Product (FMP) license by the Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in UAE. As per the announcement , “Though the initial approval does not yet allow any virtual asset activity in or from Dubai, this initial stage indicates progress in obtaining full permission to operate in Dubai. This crucial step forward allows Fasset to lead the digital assets market, as one of the first exchanges to provide regulatory protection to consumers in Dubai, as the MENA region has been identified as the world’s fastest growing cryptocurrency market.” Raafi Hossain, CEO and Co-Founder of Fasset stated, “This is an incredibly exciting time to be leading the way in democratizing access to digital assets. As the wor...

  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 MEN...

CargoX, the provider of the fastest-growing electronic trade document platform, and CEBS Worldwide, a global integrator of business solutions and a former TradeLens integrator, launched a partnership to help corporations continue the digitalization of their bills of lading and trade document workflows even those in the MENA region.  Businesses that started using TradeLens for their eB/L have been scrambling to migrate their electronic trade document processing to a new platform since TradeLens unexpectedly announced the end of its service in December 2022.  While TradeLens was able to onboard global carriers — CMA CGM, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express and Zim Integrated Shipping Services — it announced in November 2022 it would shutter due to a lack of a path toward profitability. TradeLens was also piloting projects in Oman and KSA.  Saudi Customs, in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the General...

  During a discussion panel at the Youth Center in Muscat Oman, the Oman Central Bank governor Tahir Bin Salim Al Amri stated that the Central Bank of Oman along with many other central banks globally do not recognize crypto as currencies. He stated, “It is not a means of payment it is a commodity or an asset of some sort that is being traded mainly for capital gains.” He also noted that while the Central Bank of Oman is keeping an open mind while maintaining caution because of the risky nature of crypto assets. This month the Oman Capital Authority announced that it would be launching its virtual asset framework. Commenting on this the governor Al Amri stated that they were part of the creation of the framework.   He also noted that the Central Bank of Oman was in the process of developing its CBDC ( Central Bank Digital Currency), with a final decision expected to be announced at the end of 2023. The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities s...

The Oman Capital Market Authority has announced that it will  establish the Virtual Assets Regulatory Framework to regulate and develop the market in the Sultanate of Oman. The Capital Market Authority (CMA), which regulates and develops the Sultanate's financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, is planning to establish the new proposed regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP).  As per the press release, this move highlights the Sultanate’s growing recognition and the CMA's proactive approach to develop the digital assets and fintech industry in Oman. This important initiative in Oman was announced during a public stakeholders engagement session held at the CMA recently and being led by the CMA. By regulating and developing the virtual assets industry, the CMA aims to provide an alternative financing and investment platform for issuers and investors, while mitigating the risks associated with this asset class....

  As per a recent PWC Crypto regulation report 2023, the UAE has finalized its crypto regulation, includes AML/ CTF Money laundering and counter terrorist financing rules as well as its travel rule and has already prepared the stablecoin regulation for payments which is awaiting final legislation. ( refer to graph page 8 of report). For those not familiar with the travel rule, it is a Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) rule [31 CFR 103.33) which requires all financial institutions to pass on certain information to the next financial institution, in certain funds transmittals involving more than one financial institution. This PwC Global Crypto Regulation 2023 report provides an overview of the crypto regulation landscape, with a focus on financial services. It offers insights into how the regulatory frameworks are developing across the world and seeks to identify how this may impact relevant industry participants and virtual service providers within the financial services sector. The re...

  About 65,000 Oman residents own cryptocurrencies, equivalent to 1.9 percent of the population. In a recent survey carried out by Oman based Souq Analyst, the largest investment community in Oman, it was found that 90% of crypto owners’ are between the ages of 18 and 44. Only 8% are over the age of 45. The survey results also noted that the majority owners are highly educated, with 66% of them holding a bachelor’s degree or higher. Souq Analyst offers stock market news and analysis, investing ideas, earnings calls, charts and portfolio analysis to its community members. In addition the community offers country specific insights on finance, cryptocurrencies, crowd funding & investing as well as access community events, workshop and webinars. According to the survey an impressive 97.9% of Omani adults have heard about cryptocurrency, indicating an increasing level of awareness. 55% of respondents report owning cryptocurrency and Bitcoin is the most popular followed by Eth...

  In 2022, it appears there is a high level of public interest from the number of online keyword searches for crypto, crypto payments, blockchain, metaverse, NFTs and other related terms. These keywords, for instance, are the top searches in Arab countries. This comes as no surprise as nations in the MENA region were among the list of countries receiving crypto, with the greater region becoming one of the regions that saw the most growth in crypto regulations. According to Chainalysis, while the MENA region is one of the smallest crypto markets, its growth to $566 billion received in cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022 shows adoption is rising rapidly. UAE places 10 th for highest search regions for ‘crypto’ As per Google Trends , there were high inquiries for the term “crypto” in the country from December 2021 to December 2022. The high volume of searches for “crypto” in the Arab state placed it at 10th, followed by Morocco at 11th place, Lebanon (17th) and Tunis...