On their LinkedIn page , the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) announced   that in its journey to accelerate the development of Qatar's digital ecosystem it will be launching the QFC Digital Assets Lab, a ground-breaking programme aimed at accelerating open innovation and promoting peer collaboration within the industry through proof-of-concept and proof-of-value, on September 6 th 2023 now postponed to October 9th 2023.  As per the post, “ It is with pleasure that we invite you to join us on this momentous event, that will be streamed live via LinkedIn and YouTube. The event will present the qualifying criteria for entry, the Lab's operating model and key benefits, and announce the opening for applications.” The post adds, “With the QFC Digital Assets Lab, we aim to seamlessly integrate transformative technologies into real-world applications, spanning finance, supply chain management, energy and sustainability, compliance and reporting, healthcare and beyond....

    In a recent LinkedIn post , Henk Jan Hoogendoorn , Chief Financial Sector Officer at Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority revealed that the digital assets framework that the authority has been working on will soon be launched along with the digital asset lab. As noted, QFC is working with Price Waterhouse Cooper ( PWC) to finalize the digital assets framework and the launch of the digital assets lab. As Hoogendoorn noted, “ We are working on digitalassets framework together with Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) supported by the expertise of PwC .We are making good progress on preparation of Digital Asset Lab to be launched soon.” Prior to this Qatar Financial Authority had taken several inititiatves towards advancing DLT, Blockchain and digital assets within the financial sector. In May speaking to LaraontheBlock, Hoogendoorn stated , “We are developing our digital assets framework to allow for public tokenization of assets, including securit...

    UAE Emirates NBD Bank announced on LinkedIn that it has partnered with PWC and digital asset custodian and settlement provider FireBlocks to launch its Digital Asset Lab. PWC Middle East and Fireblocks will be founding council members. According to Emirates NBD, “This marks a new milestone in our innovation journey, and together, we look forward to shaping the Digital Asset space in the region.” Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. The company enables businesses to easily and securely support digital assets and cryptocurrencies. In February of 2023, Fireblocks acquired First Digital, a stablecoin and digital asset payments technology platform for $100 million. UAE based Emirates NBD has been a strong proponent for Blockchain and digitization. Emirates NBD was one of the first banks to join the UAE blockchain enabled KYC platform. In 2022 UAE Emirates NBD Group Chief Operat...