The UAE is an ideal place and a perfect launch platform for testing new technologies and then scaling them up in bigger countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, according to senior industry executives.

Speaking at the 'Blockchain in Banking Fest' organised by Dubai AI and Web 3.0 Campus at DIFC Innovation Hub, the experts noted that the UAE ecosystem was a perfect place for decentralisation. Multiple government entities, such as Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Markets, are working on a regulatory framework to adopt and embrace new technologies that will make the country a global hub for innovation, they added.

“The UAE is a perfect launch pad where we can test solutions and scale them up in bigger countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which have high populations,” said Saqr Ereiqat, co-founder of Crypto Oasis.

“The UAE was one of the first countries to issue a strategy on blockchain. Then they issued the Emirates Blockchain strategy and again in 2022, they issued the Metaverse Strategy. All these reflect that the UAE is heading in the right direction,” he said while speaking on the sidelines of the panel discussion on 'Does decentralisation have a role in traditional finance?'

Mo Ali Yusuf, co-founder and CEO of Fuze, also took part in the panel discussion, which was moderated by Steve Gotz, head – corporation innovation, DIFC Launchpad.

He added that decentralisation will bring a massive socio-economic change in countries. “The UAE Pass app is a great step towards decentralisation,” he said.

Jawad Ashraf, CEO and co-founder of Virtua, said Dubai and the UAE’s ecosystem is 'very vibrant'.

“There is a government intention to try to drive this industry and there is a rapid movement in terms of regulations and frameworks. While other countries are trying to understand it, the UAE is moving ahead to put in place a regulatory framework. And the reason we are here is because this is a melting pot of great talent. Earlier, the main events used to be somewhere else. But now we come to the UAE,” he said.

Earlier, Sid Bhandari, CEO, NewBridge Fintech Solutions; Sundeep Kripalani, chief technology officer, Wisdomise; and Navin D’Souza, co-founder and CEO, ComTech Gold, discussed the role of tokenisation as a bridge to traditional finance.

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