Cryptocurrency is constantly gaining its popularity in spite of the fear of Bitcoin bubble. It has started gaining traction in the Gulf as well. On December 17, the advisory board of UAE Banks Federation (UBF) has discussed to apply Blockchain to its member banks.
Dubai has already shown its acceptance towards cryptocurrency by creating world’s first sharia complaint crypto-coin and EmCash. The regulations for these currencies have come into effect from January 2018. This may be one of the reasons for their openness towards cryptocurrency.
Transparency and unchanging nature of the blockchain technology is the main reason, why it is getting adopted by the Banks. With the adoption of the technology Banks will have better KYC protocols. They have the idea of implementing blockchain to some specific areas of the banking system like cross-border transaction, onboarding new customers, compliance reporting and many more.
The wide variety of advantages of blockchain will change the way people live and do business in Dubai. With these initiatives and digital innovation, the country will be able to provide banking facility to almost 85 million unbanked adults. The population of which are mostly between 25 years and below.
Other than the banking sector, the government of the country is also keen to implement these new technologies, i.e., Blockchain and artificial intelligence to strengthen the position of the country globally. The government is planning to implement these two technologies into health, education and many other vital sectors.
The country has set a target to become a global commander for adopting AI and blockchain technology by 2031. The government also wants to ensure that almost half of its transactions are conducted through blockchain by 2021.
The government of the country is looking forward to identifying those sectors that will face unemployment because of the adoption of these two technologies. They will identify the sector and will find alternative jobs for the job losers.
The private sectors of the country are also working in association with the government for adopting new technologies. Earlier this year, a leading healthcare brand started working with UAE Telecom to store patient data in the Blockchain.
The blockchain adoption is not only restricted to UAE as many other Emirates have also shown their enthusiasm towards the technology. The prominent joiner of the bandwagon is Dubai, who has partnered with IBM on blockchain based commerce finance partner, this will hopefully give more transparency to the transactions.