UAE emirate launches new free zone for digital assets, Web3 and AI
Ras Al Khaimah ruler Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi inaugurated the brand new RAK Digital Property Oasis (RAK DAO), an financial free zone devoted to supporting firms concerned in digital and digital belongings, blockchain, Web3, and synthetic intelligence (AI), on Oct. 19.
As beforehand reported by Cointelegraph, the free zone will likely be devoted to digital and digital belongings service suppliers in rising applied sciences, such because the metaverse, blockchain, utility tokens, digital asset wallets, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), decentralized functions (DApps) and different Web3-related companies.
RAK DAO and its ecosystem companions may also run grant applications, and specialised assist in varied areas of expertise, advertising and marketing, and enterprise growth.
“After we launched into this… journey, our imaginative and prescient was to create a hub the place digital belongings might thrive, innovation might flourish, and groundbreaking concepts might come to gentle,” Sheikh Saud stated in his opening remarks. “We needed to supply a platform to foster its development and success. He added:
“We noticed that international developments and information level to the unimaginable alternative digital belongings supply, and we felt… that Ras Al Khaimah might and may profit from being a primary adopter.”
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was additionally signed between the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) CEO Maryam Buti Al Suwaidi and RAK DAO chief govt Sameer Al Ansari.
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Cointelegraph reached out to RAK DAO for additional feedback however didn’t get a direct response.
Ras Al Khaimah, identified for its wealthy cultural websites, is popping to the digital belongings sector to diversify its economic system away from conventional avenues corresponding to tourism. Nonetheless, the brand new free zone has entered an area the place extra widespread expertise hubs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are already attracting international crypto corporations.
RAK DAO joins the UAE’s listing of Web3-friendly free zones — areas the place entrepreneurs have 100% possession of their companies and have their very own tax schemes and regulatory frameworks, apart from the UAE’s felony regulation — together with the Abu Dhabi World Market (ADGM), Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and Dubai Worldwide Monetary Centre, amongst others.
Sheikh Saud issued Legislation No 2 of 2023, which decrees the institution of RAK DAO as a part of its financial diversification efforts and makes an attempt to draw international gamers, the Emirates Information Company reported in March. The laws grants the free zone monetary, administrative, and legislative independence, permitting it to perform as a purpose-built, innovation-enabling free zone for the digital belongings sector.
RAK DAO has since added a number of companions to assist develop its ecosystem, together with the HBAR Basis, native financial institution RAKBANK, and Romanian AI agency People.ai.
