USA Everything Blockchain Inc., (EBI), a technology company that is blending blockchain, DBMS, and Zero Trust to deliver new ways to store, manage and protect data, has appointed Dr. Najwa Araj as new board member for MENA region. This makes the total number of board members five. Dr. Aaraj has 15 years of experience at global cybersecurity and consulting firms bringing critical industry knowledge and expertise to the company’s leadership team. A premier technical expert, Dr. Aaraj earned a Ph.D. with highest distinction in applied cryptography and embedded systems security from Princeton University. “The addition of Dr. Aaraj to the board is another critical step forward for the direction of the company,” said Michael Hawkins, Chairman of the Board at EBI. “Her invaluable knowledge and industry experience will undoubtedly contribute to our continued growth, product development, and education of the industry on the importance of next-generation database and security solutions.”

  South Korea's Blockchain, NFT, metaverse game developer and publisher WeMade  has signed onboarding agreements with several domestic and international game companies for the blockchain game platform "WEMIX Play." One of those is a UAE game company, Project Seed, which will be working on a fantasy action role playing game RPG titled Outland Odyssey. The game should be released in third quarter of this year. WeMade added that WEMIX Play has currently over 100 blockchain games linked in its network. Earlier this year WEMADE, 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. Furthermore, in January 2023, WEMADE announced the establishment of a subsidiary in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, another gaming hub and plans to open another branch in MENA region and work with local projects and companies.

  In a recent tweet, Japan based Astar, EVM based smart contract Blockchain platform that seeks to be the future of multichain smart contracts revealed its plans to set up a base in the UAE. Astar is designed to become a hub for smart contracts on Polkadot and is backed by prominent investors that include Binance, Huobi, OKEx, Fenbushi, and others. Sota Watanabe, Founder of Astar, stated in   recent tweet , “ My Abu Dhabi and Dubai business trip   was amazing. Met some government officials, investors and entrepreneurs here in UAE We plan to set up a local office here too. Our future is bright!” In November 2022, Astar Blockchain Network onboarded Japan’s top mobile carrier NTT Docomo to collaborate on mass adoption of Web3 as well as its social implementation. Then in late July 2023, Fireblocks, an enterprise-grade platform for institutional adoption of digital assets, integrated with Astar Network, an EVM and WebAssembly (Wasm) compatible smart contracts platform.   The collabo

  Komainu, a regulated digital asset custody provider created by Japanese investment bank Nomura, digital asset manager CoinShares and digital asset security company Ledger. has been granted a full virtual assets service provider license by Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority in UAE. The license was issued on August 18 th 2023. Prior to that Komainu had received in July 2022 the MVP license from VARA. Komainu will be able to serve qualified retail and institutional clients both as a crypto asset custodian and offer custodial staking services.  "We see tremendous opportunities to scale our business here amid a significant boom in assets driven by fund formation and exchange launches," said Sebastian Widmann, Komainu's Head of Strategy. "Dubai has a vibrant digital asset ecosystem and impressive talent pool, and we are proud to contribute to the growth of this innovative financial hub. Our presence and desirable regulatory status in the region marks anothe

  UAE based RAK Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO) and Blockchain AI empowered platform Humans.ai   have partnered to drive artificial intelligence innovation in the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) UAE. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signifies the launch of an operational collaboration that will reshape AI technology within the world’s first Free Zone dedicated to global digital and virtual asset companies. The strategic alliance aims to provide exclusive incentive packages to the first AI-focused companies establishing themselves in RAK DAO. These companies will gain access to RAK DAO’s partner ecosystem, offering services like toolkits, Dapps, tech solutions (including Humans.ai), investment opportunities, venture capital partners, banking, and licensing. This partnership intends to create a robust blockchain framework that empowers AI companies in RAK DAO. This framework ensures secure governance and operation of AI models while maintaining transparency. Additionally, companies will tap

  Further to Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority’s (VARA) previous notices dated 12 April 2023 and 27 April 2023 regarding the conduct of Open Technology Markets Ltd. known as OPNX and opnx.com, VARA has issued the following fines against OPNX including a $2,722,548 equivalent to AED 10,000,000 against OPNX for a Market Offence under Regulation VIII.A.3 of the Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023 (Regulations) As per VARA, this fine was issued on 2 May 2023 and remains unpaid at the time of publication of this notice.  The VARA notice includes   $54,000 equivalent to  AED 200,000 against each of the following 4 persons: OPNX founders Kyle Davies, Su Zhu and Mark Lamb and OPNX CEO Leslie Lamb. The fines are for violations of Administrative Order No. 01/22 Relating to Regulation of Marketing, Advertising and Promotions Related to Virtual Assets,  The fines were issued on 2 May 2023 and have been fully paid by the individuals in question. All fines noted above we

  Saudi Arabia based IR4LAB, a specialized firm in disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence with a MENA presence is implementing the first Blockchain enabled registration and certificate of attendance solution for the inaugural Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) Web3 summit being held on October 19 th at the Four Seasons hotel in Riyadh KSA. IR4LAB will be utilizing its blockchain based solution DocCerts to manage registration, and certificates of attendance for the inaugural Web3 Blockchain and beyond summit organized by the globally renowned Blockchain research Institute. The Blockchain Research Institute Middle East, with branches all around the world, is known for their yearly summits led by their partner, the legendary Dr Don Tapscott who will be flying for the first time to the Kingdom addressing C-suites audience focusing on the topics of Blockchain for Oil&Gas, Supply chain & logistics, Smart Cities, Banking &Finance and Women in

Virtual asset trading and cusotial service platform M2 has been granted a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). M2 is approved to operate a multilateral trading facility and offer custody services to UAE residents. M2 will be able to offer institutional and retail clients in the UAE the ability to buy, sell and custodies virtual assets. The platform has been developed over the past year with a long-term vision to establish the highest levels of trust, security, and integrity in the emerging virtual asset class. Subject to regulatory approval, the M2 platform is scheduled to launch later this year, offering UAE virtual asset investors the opportunity to purchase market-leading virtual assets (BTC and ETH), and benefit from institutional grade trading features in addition to having a secure on and off-ramp for fiat payments. Stefan Kimmel, M2 CEO, said, “The M2 team is delighted to

Sources in the know of BitOasis’s current conditions, some of which have been affected by the latest changes, have confirmed to LaraontheBlock that on August 15 th 2023, 30-50 employees were fired from BitOasis both from their offices in Jordan as well as UAE out of a total of over 120 employees. This happens as sources confirm that BitOasis is in the midst of ongoing negotiations to be acquired by India’s CoinDCX after the UAE based crypto broker failed to receive a Full Market product license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority VARA. Launched on April 7th, 2018, CoinDCX is a cryptocurrency exchange with its offices located in India. CoinDCX is backed by investors such as Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and HDR Group, operator of BitMEX and Pantera Capital among others. According to recent figures from CoinMarketCap CoinDCX has a Spot Trading Volume (24h) of $2,023,145.62 and holds total assets of $103,283,813.20. In April 2022, CoinDCX r

  Burency a UAE Blockchain development firm with crypto asset exchange operating out of offices in DWTC ( Dubai World Trade Center) in Dubai UAE, is restarting its operations after what it calls bad and out of control conditions. This restart is happening amidst a tumultuous conditions spurred by comments made from its previous managing Director. So while Burency was announcing on twitter that they will be coming back soon stating, “ We are coming soon.. after bad and out of control conditions, we are back to work with great strength and passion. The Burency project is ongoing and will return better than before.” On August 9 th they stated, “ We are currently working on restarting the Burency Exchange and will notify you as soon as possible about the operating date. Full support will be provided to the project at all levels, including marketing, companies, and plans to develop the workflow and the project as a whole.” However these comments come in parallel to a tweet by Qusai

In a recent tweet , the Founder of WadzPay, a blockchain technology payment provider with a presence in the UAE, Anish Jain, offered an update to the community stating that WadzPay had made strides on the licensing front and are in the “final stages". In addition he added that WPC token would be listed on a Tier1 regulated exchange in the Middle East. As for the WadzPay product it will be ready for launch in Q3 of this fiscal year with live terminals on WadzPay soon. Prior to this in a LinkedIn post , WadzPay announced that its blockchain enabled payments platform was now technically live for Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. The solution is intended to facilitate digital payments and creates a cashless experience in KSA. As per the announcement, WadzPay works with large payment companies, banks, and global entities to enable virtual asset-based transaction processing and settlement. Their private blockchain program will enable pilgrims to use mobile app-based wallets issued by an approve

  BingX, a cryptocurrency exchange, has introduced   Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading services for multiple countries in the MENA region including UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwat, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This means that trading includes fiat currencies such as   AED, DZD, EGP, JOD, KWD, QAR, SAR, MAD, TRY, and more. By opening up this feature, BingX aims to foster greater accessibility and convenience for users seeking to purchase cryptocurrencies with their local fiat currencies. According to BingX press release, this strategic move empowers merchants and users in the MENA region and Turkey to engage in direct cryptocurrency transactions with zero transaction fees. Building on its successful P2P trading services available in over 40 countries and regions with support for 300+ payment methods, BingX now extends its user-friendly and cost-effective trading experience to the MENA and Turkey market. BingX is seeking merchants in the Middle East and Turkey. "We are delighted to intr

  The Dubai AI and Web 3.0 Campus , situated in Dubai International Financia Centre, announced that it will be issuing artificial intelligence (AI) and Web3 licenses supporting activities ranging from Distributed Ledger Technology Services (DLT), specialised Artificial Intelligence Research & consultancies, IT infrastructure builders, Technology Research and Development and Public Networking Services. Licenses will be issued by Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, which is currently home to an established ecosystem of tech enablers and start-ups at the DIFC Innovation Hub. The Dubai AI and Web 3.0 Campus is a dedicated campus for AI and Web3 innovation and will provide state-of-the-art physical and digital infrastructure within the DIFC Innovation One new premises, including R&D facilities, accelerator programmes and collaborative workspaces, to attract, build and scale fir

    Given the focus in the past months on the topic of stablecoins, and with the launch of Paypal’s stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, centered around discussions on how stablecoins will fair in the future, it is very interesting to see Edelcoin’ s launch of a stablecoin, not backed by the dollar or eyuan but backed by real world assets! Paypal in its press release for example stated, fully-backed, regulated stablecoins have the potential to transform payments in web3 and digitally native environments. Today the stablecoin market is a $120 billion according to data from TradingView yet it is expected to grow to $2.8 trillion in the next according to broker Bernstein research report released this month. Yet stablecoins face challenges include regulatory uncertainty, technical vulnerabilities, market fluctuations, and liquidity issues. Here is how Edelcoin comes in. It is a stable payment token potentially inversely correlated to inflationary fiat currencies. According to its cr

  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 company

  UAE based Illuminati Capital has raised $50 million to invest in early-stage blockchain startups including game companies. According to the news, the Dubai based firm and its partners have individually invested in blockchain startups worth over $1 billion. Illuminati Capital aims to offer more than just financial support. The venture capital firm is dedicated to building the global Web3 ecosystem and driving transformative shifts in decentralized technologies. The team behind Illuminati Capital has collectively deployed $30 million, resulting in exits worth $150 million. Vickaash Agrawal partner at Illiminati Capital stated in an article in Venture Beats, “We are witnessing a remarkable growth trajectory in Web3 venture investing.   With a track record of 120-plus successful blockchain investments in my investment portfolio, I will bring my expertise in data, infrastructure, regulation and mining.” Illuminati Capital’s investment focus spans multiple verticals, including

    In a recent LinkedIn post , Zul Javaid, CEO of UAE Trade Connect, the UAE’s first trade finance platform to combat fraud, announced that they had hired Wissam Massud to lead their international expansion. As per the post, Massud will define market-entry strategies as UAE Trade Connect widens its horizons to GCC, other Middle East, Africa countries. In the post, Javaid states, “We know that UTC's unique #blockchain technology addresses a real-life pain for banks and tradefinance lending everywhere, so we fully expect to be knocking on lots of countries' doors in the coming year.” Prior to this announcement, In May 2023 Zul Javaid coming back fro a recent participation at Global Trade Review conference in KSA had noted that UAE Trade   Connect was interested in offering its solutions to the Saudi Arabian banking sector. As per Javaid, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a robust banking market, and we are very keen to bring our unique blockchain and AI based engine int

  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 Coins

    The UAE Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, recently announced its migration of high percentage of its application and workloads to the Azure Cloud utilising various cloud computing services such as Blockchain, AI, and Data warehouse. ADIB has selected Cloud4C to work with them on this transformation project. Cloud4C is an Azure expert specialised in advanced cloud-managed services. They were chosen because of their broad and deep portfolio of cloud services, overall commitment to security excellence, and strong financial services experience. Commenting on the migration to the Cloud, Ashley Veasey, Group Chief Information Officer at ADIB, said: “ADIB has been at the forefront of digital transformation and continues to invest in re-architecting its technology to be more innovative and responsive to customer needs. We migrated to the cloud in recognition of the need to create an environment that is optimised for rapid changes and that will help in rolling out our digitisation strategy to b

  The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and the Virtual Assets regulatory Authority have signed an MOU to unify VASP ( virtual asset service provider) offering in the city. The two entities will collaborate to offer a synchronised VA market assurance across the Emirate of Dubai – spanning [Public/Marketplace] Customer Care + Complaints; [Business] On-Site Inspection + Enforcement; [Business] VASP Registration + Licensing; [G2G + G2B + G2C] Education-Training-Knowledge Sharing. As per the MOU, both parties agree to pool their complementary capabilities to lay robust foundations that will aid Dubai's GDP contribution to the expanding global New Economy portfolio, reinforcing the city’s reputation as an attractive, innovative, and secure global hub for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), operators, and customers. The MoU's scope further strengthens VARA's commitment to achieving full transparency and market conduct adherence across VASPs licensed to operate in