Oman - In a first-of-its-kind project in the Sultanate of Oman, Oman Water and Wastewater Services Company and Digital Digits (Easy Coins) signed Memorandums of Understanding with Connected Chains to trial crypto currency for payments.

The agreements were signed by HH Sayyid Azzan bin Qais al Said, co-founder of Digital Digits; Qais bin Saud al Zakwani, CEO, on behalf of OWWSC; with Nabil bin Salim al Siyabi, co-founder of Connected Chains at the OWWSC premises in Muscat on Thursday.

According to the agreements, a crypto currency, pegged to the value of the Omani Rial, can be trialed for payments of dues from subscribers, in selected customer care centres of OWWSC, and online on Easy Coins, using the Hasalah Digital Wallet.

HH Sayyid Azzan said, “We are proud to empower such a trial within the Sultanate of Oman which in turn will improve Easy Coins’ service competitiveness to match global players in this space. Easy Coins customers will significantly benefit from the reduced cost of payment processor fees to use our service with Hasalah."

Al Zakwani said, “In line with the company’s ambition to keep pace with the digital transformation and to provide our customers with innovative options to pay their monthly dues, we are extremely pleased to enter into this partnership, through which we hope our customers will be provided with a new experience to pay bills through the Hasalah wallet, when launched."

Hamood Al Hamadan, Director of Sas Centre of Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MoTCIT), said, "We believe that the advancement of technology in Sultanate of Oman is in need of increased collaboration and coordination of such trials. Through supporting technology innovation and experimentation by the government and private sector, we foresee many local tech products growing and scaling regionally and globally. MoTCIT’s Sas Centre is continually supporting such trials between government entities and tech start-ups through our Jadara programme and look forward to their positive outcomes to increase confidence and adoption levels of technology in Oman."

Al Siyabi said, “We are excited to work with OWWSC, Easy Coins and the other relevant stakeholders in tokenising the Omani Rial to enable real life benefits in doing so to payments. We welcome any other government or private entities interested in accepting the tokenised Omani Rial, when fully rolled out with its associated benefits. Furthermore, we welcome any government or private entities interested in tokenising their assets of value, using our ISO 27001 & ISAE 3402 Type 1 security certified solution (Nexus) and regulatory compliant focus to tokenisation, to reach out to us. We can evaluate how tokenisation can add value to your institution, undergo a legal and technical assessment and aim to tokenise your assets with a minimal to no cost overhead goal."

It is worth noting that OWWSC would be the first governmental establishment to provide such an experience to customers. The trial would be evaluated periodically to further develop its integration with OWWSC and address any challenges that may be identified.

After ensuring its success and in order to achieve broader flexibility for OWWSC customers, it will be implemented and approved as one of the primary channels for payment at OWWSC. It is also worth noting that the trial is aimed to commence in coordination and alignment with all relevant governmental stakeholders.

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