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April 26, 2017, 02:10:56 PM |
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Blockchain-Based Innovation
“The Arabian world is ripe for innovation,” said Mohammed Alsehli, chief executive officer at ArabianChain Technology, a Dubai-based software developer.
“Blockchain technology is at the center of innovation in the region that is made possible by the direction and the vision of some of the countries here. In Saudi Arabia and the UAE it’s all about the digital revolution and how to digitally transform these countries in the future.”
ArabianChain Technology, based in the Dubai Technology Entrepreneurship Center, recently launched its own public blockchain.
In addition to the blockchain, ArabianChain is developing a suite of blockchain-based features and products, including its own digital currency called DubaiCoin-DBIX (previously, DubaiCoin-DBIC), an exchange, and a regionally-focused marketplace.
“DBIX is a secure and economical means to conduct payments and asset transfers,” Alsehli said.
But ArabianChain is just a single player amidst a growing base of fintech ventures, blockchain-based and otherwise.
Last September, the Dubai Future Foundation launched its inaugural Dubai Future Accelerators, a 12-week program connected international technology startups with government entities for the purpose of creating prototypes and pilots for the City of Dubai.
According to Bitcoin Magazine reporter Diana Ngo, The program “enlisted 30 companies with seven of Dubai’s public services: Health, Energy, Knowledge, Municipality, Police, Transport and the investment portfolio, Dubai Holding.”
In fact, the United Arab Emirates is moving to adopt sweepingly adopt blockchain technology with aims “to become, by 2020, a leading center for innovation and the first government in the world to execute all of its transactions on a blockchain.”
The power of this, from a financial inclusion and digital innovation standpoint, will be unmitigated access for a population that lives online, connected via a computer or mobile phone, with the latter’s penetration rate at a nearly universal level.
Further, integration and adoption of a regionally-focused, feature-filled public blockchain has the capacity to heighten interaction and connectivity from business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and peer-to-peer positions.
Daniel Diemers, a consultant with the strategy and consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, pointed to another reality in the region, that of disconnection, stating, “If you’re a payments fintech start-up in the UAE and you’ve gone through all the approvals, it [still] doesn’t give you passporting in other Gulf countries.”
ArabianChain and other public blockchains like Bitcoin have the potential to alter this dissociative relationship, allowing businesses and people to interact without thought of border, according to Alsehli.
Mobile banking and the advancement and adoption of financial technology applications can also shatter the often insurmountable barrier physical access predicates, while alleviating costs to the account owner and the banking institution.
In short, Blockchain-based innovation could mean significant progress by way of financial inclusion through digital.
This guest article is authored by Brandon Kostinuk, communications lead at Vanbex Group, a Vancouver, Canada-based professional services firm and consultancy that specializes in the digital currency and blockchain technology sector.
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