A whitepaper titled, “Inclusive deployment of Blockchain: Case Studies and Learning from the United Arab Emirates,” says that UAE can save $3 billion by integrating blockchain with public and private sector enterprises.
Further, the study says that blockchain integration could help UAE cut 398 million printed documents and 77 million work hours every year.
The whitepaper was prepared by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution UAE, the Dubai Future Foundation and the World Economic Forum. About 100 organizations from 60 private and public sector enterprises that have already adopted blockchain technology took part in it.
UAE has been supporting blockchain technology since 2016 when it hosted the Dubai Blockchain Strategy meet. In 2018, it hosted the Emirates Blockchain Strategy. UAE has also hosted conferences on trends in blockchain, how to integrate blockchain with existing systems.
Around 80% of all government and private entities in UAE have already deployed use cases for blockchain technology. UAE has set a target of conducting half of all government transactions on blockchain by 2021.
UAE Minister for AI, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama said,
Case studies presented in the paper for use cases of blockchain include port operator DP World’s two proposals—one for using blockchain for registration, licensing, and for exit/entry certificates required at ports. The second use case is the development of a permissioned blockchain for data sharing among all the elements of the supply chain including logistics providers and cargo owners.
In the UAE, more than 10 million cheques are cleared every month from branches of over 50 banks. To eliminate fraud and save paper, the Emirates NBD bank is working on developing a blockchain-based e-cheque system.
Accordingly, QR codes will be generated for each page of a cheque book and stored on a blockchain. e-cheque instruments will verify the QR code and authenticate particular cheques. This will save 1.2 billion pages every year.