White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #115
UAE Plans to Issue a CBDC as Part of Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme
UAE Plans to Issue a CBDC as Part of Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme
White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #115
The UAE is the latest jurisdiction moving ahead with their issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), designed for cross-border and domestic use. It was unveiled as part of the Central Bank of the UAE’s nine initiatives in its Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) program. The wide-ranging initiatives are designed to make the country a financial and digital payments hub.
What is the Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) program?
The FIT is split into two stages, and the CBDC was one of the three initiatives earmarked as part of the first stage. Others include the introduction of an instant payments platform, and a unified card payment platform to facilitate the growth of e-commerce. The motivation is ‘to support financial inclusion and enable a cashless society’.
Initiatives after the first stage include an innovation hub, financial cloud and Open Finance Platform. The second stage also sees work on an e-Know Your Customer platform in an effort to improve regulatory compliance, reduce cost operation and strengthen security and operational resilience.
What are its CBDC plans?
The UAE’s central bank is one of four participants in Project MBridge- an ongoing interbank or wholesale CBDC initiative. Other participants are China, Hong Kong and Thailand, but although other cross border CBDC projects were more experimental, this one has progressed to the minimal viable product phase with intentions of production deployment. At this stage, it is unclear whether the UAE CBDC project will be targeted at only banks or also directly at consumers.
The CBDC itself does not have its own specified timeline, but the central bank aims to complete ‘full integration’ of all nine initiatives by 2026, meaning it is ahead of most other central banks who are still on the earlier planning stages. Given this short time scale, a wholesale solution seems most likely.
What does this mean for the UAE?
The FIT program will boost UAE’s financial services and crypto sector, by promoting digital transactions and boosting competitiveness as a financial and digital payment hub. It comes as Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem, has just announced a new $2 billion initiative to back Web3 and blockchain technology start-ups in the region.
The Governor of the CBUAE, H.E. Khaled Mohamed Balama, said ‘we are proud to be building an infrastructure that will support a thriving UAE financial ecosystem and its future growth’.
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Thala Labs has been accepted into the Aptos Network and Google Cloud Accelerator Program!
The team has received a grant of $100k to utilise GCP’s node service, which will power their dApp infrastructure and offer a low-latency experience for users.
Superfluid is partnering with Push Protocol to enable decentralised notifications & alerts for Superfluid users
This partnership will provide Superfluid’s community with greater insight into their money-streaming activity.
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Ex-JPMorgan Banker Hired as Swiss Crypto Bank’s APAC Head
Amy Yu previously worked in equity markets at UBS, Nomura and JPMorgan before joining the crypto industry in 2018.
Revolut Doubles Down on Crypto With Staking Rewards — But Not in US
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Siemens issues first digital bond on blockchain
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⚖️ Government & Regulation
Korea’s Second-largest City Pushes for Crypto Hub
Busan plans to create a publicly-run crypto exchange as a means of rejuvenating its aging population and attracting foreign investment.
Mississippi Bill Legalizes Bitcoin Mining in Residential and Industrial Areas
The state’s mining bill, set to become effective July 1, protects miners from being considered money transmitters.
The Bank of England is Looking to Build a Digital Pound
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Privacy Coins To Be Banned in Dubai
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Brazil's Largest Public Bank Enables Tax Payments to Be Made With Crypto
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💰 Funding & Exits
Bain Capital Crypto Backs $4.5M Round for Blockchain Interoperability Startup Orb Labs
Orb Labs emerges from stealth preparing to launch its first products.
Former Jump Trading developers raise $19 million to build Monad blockchain
The project is building an Ethereum virtual machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 1 blockchain.
Caldera raises $9M to enable Web3 at scale
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Digital Asset Infrastructure Provider Taurus Raises $65M From Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank
The Swiss firm plans to use the funds to make new hires and expand into across Europe and the UAE.
Crypto Exchange Coinmetro Buys Social Fundraising Platform Ignium
With the €4 million ($4.3 million) acquisition, the Estonia-based crypto exchange Coinmetro intends to broaden its securities market offerings and develop tools for small businesses to raise funds directly from their communities using non-fungible tokens.
Crypto Exchange C3 Raises $6M to Offer FTX Alternative
Two Sigma Ventures led the round for the decentralized exchange.
Web3 Gaming Platform Ajuna Raises $5M in New Private Financing
The start-up will use the new capital and its previous $2 million raised in a seed round, to fund its expansion.
Web3 tower defence game developer Omega Royale raises $2.1 million
The round was led by Play Ventures, Agnitio Capital and backed by angel investor Santiago R. Santos.
Web3 music platform Vault raises $4 million Series A led by Placeholder VC
Alleycorp, Bullpen Capital and family office Everblue Management also took part in the round that valued the startup at $42 million pre-money, said co-founder and CEO Nigel Eccles.
Modular blockchain Dymension raises $6.7 million in private token round
The modular blockchain project leverages Cosmos’s and Celestia’s technologies.
Mino Games raises $15M to create Dimensionals Web3 game
Standard Crypto led the round, with participation from Boost VC, Collab Currency, Earl Grey Capital, and Konvoy Ventures.
Coincover announces $30m funding to fuel growth and foster trust in digital assets
The fresh capital will accelerate recruitment, product updates, and partnerships to safeguard the crypto ecosystem – preventing, compensating, and protecting against crypto threats.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
Binance Hires Former Gemini-Exec as Chief Compliance Officer
Perlman started in the role at Binance in January, having spent two and a half years as COO of Gemini and previously one year as CCO.
Phantom wallet adds authentication standards support to protect against phishing
The standards are aimed to enhance users’ security in interactions with dApps and protect users from phishing attacks.
MakerDAO integrates Chainlink oracle to help maintain DAI stability
MakerDAO integrated Chainlink’s decentralized oracle into the framework that helps to maintain the stability of its DAI stablecoin, after a successful governance vote.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
Crypto Payments Firm MoonPay and NFT Marketplace LooksRare Ink Partnership
LooksRare users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies through MoonPay, which will allow users to purchase NFTs with a credit card.
DeFi Giant MakerDAO to Introduce Aave Rival Dubbed Spark Protocol
The protocol is a fork of Aave v3 and will increase the use case for the DAI stablecoin.