In July 2023, the US   Department of Justice on Monday charged a Moroccan national accused of impersonating OpenSea marketplace functions in order to make off with cryptocurrencies and NFTs, including a Bored Ape. Apart from NFTs, Oulahyane is accused of stealing ether (ETH). Prosecutors accused Soufiane Oulahyane, 25, of defrauding a Manhattan resident and others of approximately $450,000 of digital assets in September 2021.   According to the allegations, the DOJ alleges Oulahyane “spoofed” OpenSea, creating a site that mimicked the real OpenSea to trick customers into logging in and swiping their OpenSea credentials in the process. He allegedly bought “paid advertisements on a popular search engine” to boost the fake page. “Oulahyane is alleged to have operated a spoof website to gain unauthorized access to victims’ cryptocurrency wallets to steal their cryptocurrency and NFTs,” FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie Curtis said. The DOJ charged Oulah...

  UAE based NEXT IT & Systems partners with U.S. based IDD Lab   to revolutionize solutions for multiple industries by leveraging   Blockchain Technology. NEXT IT & Systems, a prominent software development group, has joined forces with IDD Labs, a leading blockchain technology group based in USA, to develop cutting-edge blockchain solutions aimed at enhancing identity across diverse sectors, including supply chain, KYC/AML, payments, and more. IDD Labs, a software technology group with specialization in blockchain, played an instrumental role in launching the identity-based Accumulate network, which went live November 2022, and is a hard fork of Factom - a blockchain network which has been running successfully since 2016. "As the CEO of Next IT & Systems, I am thrilled about our partnership with IDD Labs," says Shaik Hamdan. "This collaboration represents a pivotal moment in our journey towards revolutionizing the market and driving the widespread adopti...

  UAE based Sabre56 a hosting provider and digital asset mining consultancy, has signed a hosting deal with U.S. based GEM Mining, an institutional-grade Bitcoin (BTC) mining company. As per the agreement, Sabre56 will initially host 4, 510 of GEM mining’s BTC miners in Sabre56’s new hosting facilities in Wyoming in USA. As per the announcement, half of the miners will come online in May, and the remaining miners in June. The deal follows Sabre56’s February announcement of its US$35 million funding agreements to build 150MW of Tier 0 data centers to support blockchain infrastructure. The Company is rapidly transitioning from consulting on mining projects to constructing and hosting its own facilities, and today’s news is the first among the waitlist of miners ready to take hosting services in the new and future facilities that are currently under construction. Phil Harvey, CEO of Sabre56, stated, “We are excited to welcome our new partner - GEM Mining. Our two companies a...

    In a Zawya exclusive interview , GEMINI, digital asset exchange founders expressed their interest in applying for a license in UAE. As per the article US crypto exchange Gemini, is interested in a license in UAE because of the hostility and lack of clarity in the USA. Several other global virtual asset service providers have already expressed their interest as well including Coinbase, Bittrex, IoTa, and Circle.  The license application is set to come after meetings in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are the founders of GEMINI. Tyler told zawya, “There is a lot of customers and amazing investors here.” As for the USA, Tyler told Zawya it as hard to get things done in the US. He added, “You don’t want the Wild West, but you also don’t want a wall or a gate to innovation, getting that balance right builds the healthiest markets. We have always believed that, and always tried to get that message across to the regulators to provide that clari...

  The U.S. the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 22 individuals and 104 entities operating in 20 countries for their role in facilitating Russian sanctions evasion, including John Desmond Hanafin, Founder of Dubai based Huriya Private, a fintech firm, who has an active Ethereum address included as an identifier on his SDN List entry. Hanafin is the founder and CEO of Huriya Private FZE LLE, a Dubai-based financial services company also sanctioned today for its role in funneling Russian funds into the UAE.  According to OFAC’s press release, Hanafin in his role at Huriya has been working since the outset of the Russia-Ukraine War to help Russian nationals protect their assets from sanctions. Much of this activity has involved helping Russian nationals move their money into UAE bank accounts and obtain fraudulent passports.  As per Chainalysis blog , John Hanafin’s on-chain transactions may shed light on Huriya’s Russian sanctions eva...

    The exodus of Crypto and Blockchain startups from the United States seems to be intensifying and it looks like the MENA region, and UAE are the new preferred destinations for CoinBase, Circle and Bittrex.  Tim Draper, Founder of DFJ VC tweeted recently that Silicon Valley startups are relocating to Middle East, Asia, and Europe. He states, “CoinBase and Gemini are moving out of the US for regulatory reasons. Dubai, London and Singapore are eating into New York's blockchain leadership. This exodus is not good for US jobs, economy, and homelessness.” Additionally, in the last 24 hours CoinBase announced that its CEO and Co-Founder Brian Armstrong is currently in the UAE for a series of engagements with policymakers, regulators, partners, Web3 and crypto founders as well as clients. Armstrong is delivering a keynote address at the inaugural Dubai Fintech Summit, under the patronage of His Royal Highness, Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, First D...

  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 co...

  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...

  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 b...

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...

  SmartLedger a   U.S. blockchain services company providing advanced solutions to clients through a combination of consultancy, partnership, and internal development has announced that it has entered the MENA region through its subsidiary Blockchain Smart Technologies in Dubai UAE. As per the press release, Dubai has emerged as a global leader in the adoption and implementation of innovative technologies such as blockchain. The city has made significant investments in the development and implementation of blockchain-based solutions across various sectors, including finance, transportation, and government services. Blockchain Smart Technologies will work to improve manufacturing and supply-chain efficiencies, airport safety, identity management, nano-technologies, I-gaming, ESG initiatives, and Sharia compliant blockchain services. Launched in 2016, the Dubai Industrial Strategy outlines the government’s vision for the city’s future development and is based on four key ...

  Amidst what some might consider as bearish markets especially for the crypto mining industry given high energy prices and decreased value in crypto markets, UAE’s crypto mining hardware retailer, Phoenix Technology is investing $300 million in crypto mining sites across the globe. As per recent news, Phoenix Technology is developing a large scale site in the United States which will be launched in Q2 of 2023. The site will utilize the latest mining technologies including immersive cooling. Carl Agren, CEO of Phoenix Technology, stated, “Phoenix Technology is aiming to switch from a regional player in the mining space to a global one. In other words, developing, maintaining, and operating sites all around the world. We have been currently focusing on the North American markets, mainly the US and Canada. However, we are planning on setting foot in other regions to try to identify opportunities in untapped mining areas. We are devoting $300 million to be invested in different si...

  In a recent report published by CoinCub, the UAE ranked 4 th in the third quarter of 2022 as the most favourable crypto economy globally. Germany ranked 1 st place, followed by Switzerland at 2 nd place, then Australia in 3 rd . USA ranked 7 th globally. The crypto economy rankings compiled by Coincub looked into various factors such as favorable crypto outlook, clear crypto tax rules, more transparent regulatory communications and more to rank countries. As per the report, Germany although not a tax haven, is considered one of the strongest all-around ‘traditional-tax’ crypto economies that reward long-term crypto holders. German law charges zero tax on crypto holdings of over a year. Switzerland ranked second with its positive crypto regulatory stance and is home to some of the top crypto organizations in the world. Australia has shown a great appetite for crypto and the government has been equally supportive of it over the past year, pushing positive crypto l...

  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...

  Two professors at Qatar university came together to build a blockchain network from scratch that would not only be utilized as a ledger but also as a super computer. They named it Maxya given that its consensus mechanism creates added value by solving optimization problems for business. Lebanese-Canadian national Mazen El Masri, Co-Founder and CEO and  Syrian-French national Karim Yafi, CO-Founder and CTO, of Genesis Technologies, the tech company which developed Maxya, both Associate Professors at Qatar University started their project three years ago with a $2.6 million fund for an applied research program from Qatar National Research Fund, today they have launched MaxYa test net and are testing it with Qatar’s local sectors. The duo developed their consensus mechanism which they called “Proof of Useful Work”.   The Proof-of-Useful-Work (PoUW)” is an alternative mechanism for transaction validation that repurposes the squandered computing resources to beneficial ...

  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...

   UK based Blockchain.com  secured regulatory approval from Italy’s Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM) as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) allowing it to provide virtual currency and wallet services to Italian residents and institutional investors under the OAM’s regulatory framework. At the sametime Blockchain.com announced that it has a license underway in the UAE, through Dubai's VARA.  As per Blockchain.com medium article , “Through engaging with OAM we’ve been encouraged by the thoughtful approach to protecting consumers and preventing money laundering. A key growth market, Italy represents a significant economy in Europe with a high crypto adoption rate relative to its peer countries in the EU. Additionally, this milestone strengthens our position to offer services across Europe ahead of the forthcoming Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCAR), a landmark law expected to take effect in 2024/2025 that will create a single market for crypto throug...

  The 2022 Worldwide crypto readiness report looks into the number of crypto ATMs, legislations, taxes surrounding cryptocurrencies, as well as the number of blockchain start-ups and the level of interest in crypto in order to find the most crypto ready countries. The 2022 report revealed that the UAE ranks third globally when it comes to the number of blockchain start-ups. The UAE has close to 120 blockchain start-ups or 1.2 blockchain startups per 100,000 people. As per the 2022 report, Hong Kong was number one on the list in terms of crypto readiness, The country was crowned the most crypto-ready as it ranked in the top three for three of the categories looked at, including the number of blockchain start-ups per 100,00 people and the number of crypto ATMs proportional to the population. Hong Kong also doesn’t tax capital gains on crypto, making it appealing to investors. Next up was the United States; the US took second place thanks to the huge number of crypto ATMs in the ...

  Unlike previous crypto winters, this time we are witnessing two weather fronts hitting crypto at the same time. One is sunny and warm and inviting, the other is cold, dreary and repellent. If you are in the UAE for example crypto is under a warm summer spell. I mean let us take the first drop of news where MENA based Trust Smart Solutions (TSS), a payment tech service provider just partnered with PayScript global company focusing on digital assets, to enable the Crypto Payment Acceptance on Point of Sales Terminals. This is huge, as Payscript is an all-inclusive Crypto Solutions-as-a-Service platform that aims at bridging the gap between the merchants’ accepting cryptocurrencies and the owners of cryptocurrencies. The platform will allow users to do crypto payment via different channels including sending and receiving payments, accepting payments on E-commerce stores and online websites, as well as physical Point-Of-Sale transactions in Retails Stores and Cafes. The platform...

  When Huda Kattan, an Iraqi American beauty Blogger launched her blog in 2010, she didn’t imagine that in 2022, she would head one of the fastest growing beauty brands in the world with over 50 million followers on Instagram and a net worth of 500 million USD. Her success actually started in Dubai UAE, when Huda and her sisters Mona and Alya created a collection of false eyelashes under the Huda Beauty brand name which later launched at Sephora in Dubai Mall. Recently Huda was invited to speak at Gary Vaynerchuk’s Web3.o and NFT conference Veecon, at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.   Only a handful  of women were present at the event, including Mila Kunis and Eva Longoria, Kattan spoke on her recent investments into NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) and how few women are involved in the crypto space. Kattan currently owns hundreds of NFTs, including those from the project   World of Women NFT . As per their website, WoW’s vision is to build an inclusive web3 t...