Invao, a Liechtenstein-based crypto fund has received support from a perhaps unlikely source – a member of Dubai’s Royal Family. Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum’s has offered to help Invao source investment from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through his Private Office, which makes its own investments as well as sourcing suitable investment opportunities for wealthy investors in the area. Invao itself began operations last year, in the middle of what has become the longest bear market in cryptocurrency’s history, but still claims to have made a profit every month, despite the downturn, investing in new projects and ICOs.
Gulf States Bitten By the Blockchain Bug
Perhaps Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum’s involvement isn’t that strange when you consider that Dubai has been sweet on cryptocurrency and blockchain since 2016, a case of liking the band before they were cool. The “city of the future” planted their flag in 2017 when they stated their desire to put all visa applications, bill payments, and license renewals on the blockchain by 2020, a move that they said at the time would account for 100 million documents each year.
A year later the UAE Government upped the ante by revealing their Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021, in which they outlined their ambition to put half of all government transactions onto the blockchain by 2021, saving around AED11 billion ($3 billion) and 77 million working hours per year.
Adoption Underway
To help cryptocurrency adoption within the country, the UAE is well underway with the key regulations to create a framework for safe investing, with ICO regulations scheduled to be introduced this year. Dubai for its part is not just paying lip service to blockchain, it is actively integrating it into public services. 2018 saw the introduction of a blockchain-based Payment Reconciliation and Settlement (PRS) system. This aims to allow government entities and services to transact in real-time with transparency throughout, a system that is already being used by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority.
With all this in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that Dubai is scouring the crypto arena for previously unknown projects that it feels have potential in the space.
