UAE Accepts Crypto Regulation, Blockchain Projects Stand to Benefit

The UAE, in particular, already hosts several blockchain initiatives that stand to benefit significantly from the new regulations.

The Digital Silk Road is not the first blockchain-based trade finance project to be developed in the UAE. In April 2019, local blockchain startup Perlin partnered with the International Chamber of Commerce to form the ICC Blockchain/DLT Alliance.

Created as a collaborative effort between blockchain development firm R3 and open finance platform TradeIX, the Marco Polo network has proven to be an impressively fast-growing trade and capital finance network.

As a member of the Marco Polo network, the National Bank of Fujairah has access to the Universal Trade Network, an international initiative created by Marco Polo with an aim to develop blockchain trade finance standards.

In July 2019, the Abu Dhabi-based telecommunications giant Etisalat Digital partnered with First Abu Dhabi Bank and Avanza Innovations to develop a blockchain-based trade finance platform called UAE Trade Connect.

While still in its early development stages, the UAE Trade Connect platform hopes to eventually develop solutions to these issues with the additional integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Trade Assets is a Dubai-based blockchain marketplace launched in February 2019 as part of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, a "Free zone" company initiative.

The marketplace aims to provide a platform through which banks can capitalize on the $1 trillion secondary trade market that exists due to the limited amount of trade finance banks are willing to carry on their books, as less-desirable portfolios are often sold to make space for newer clients.

In addition to documentation exchange, the Silsal blockchain gives port authorities the ability to record transaction details on a digital ledger that is transparent and accessible across the trade industry.

In the first quarter of 2019 alone, UAE-based blockchain startups raised $210 million, making the country the largest beneficiary of blockchain investment in the world.