Dubai Blockchain Platform, The First Government-Endorsed Blockchain Platform Powered By IBM

Smart Dubai and IBM announced Dubai Blockchain Platform.

It is the first government-endorsed blockchain platform-as-a-service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will be delivered using an IBM Cloud environment and built locally in the UAE. IBM is the official Blockchain Strategic Partner of UAE government and their Dubai Blockchain Strategy.

The new Dubai Blockchain Platform will cater to the needs of UAE based and global organizations to transition their blockchain testing and development into full-production. It will also help organizations to keep their data in their own country. Also conducting transactions locally will further lower operational costs. Along with these benefits, Dubai Blockchain platform will also help digitize services used in day-to-day lives. 

Dubai has Information Security Regulation (ISR) standards that mandate government entities in Dubai to implement specific requirements and controls to ensure an appropriate level of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets. The Dubai Blockchain Platform will conform to this ISR standards.

Dubai has been forefront to use blockchain technology in the world and it their idea is to be paperless government by 2021. Dubai has already launched many blockchain applications in a number of government entities across different sectors, including roads and transport, energy, healthcare, and education.

The Dubai Pay Blockchain Settlement and Reconciliation System will be one of the first projects to migrate onto the Dubai Blockchain Platform. The service was officially launched on 23rd September 2018. The government endorsement of blockchain technology can be gauged from the fact that, a process that used to take entities approximately 45 days to reconcile and settle payments with other government entities, banks, and financial institutions, now happen in real time.

Her Excellency Dr. Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General of the Smart Dubai Office (SDO), said: "Guided by the forward-thinking vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, Smart Dubai has been moving rapidly towards our main objective of transforming the emirate into a full-fledged smart city that tops global competitiveness and happiness indexes."

"Dubai has been a pioneer in blockchain technology since its inception, while other major cities around the world were reluctant to embrace it for city-wide implementation," H.E. Dr Aisha added. "The Dubai Blockchain Strategy set a clear path for the emirate to have the world's first fully digitized government by 2021. The Dubai Blockchain Platform we are launching today with IBM – who bring a wealth of insight and expertise in the advanced tech industries – drives us forward in our mission and allows us to power all blockchain applications in the city from one united portal."

CEO of the Smart Dubai Government Establishment (SDG), H.E. Wesam Lootah, said: "As Dubai persists on its path to becoming a world leader in the industries of the future, Blockchain technology will occupy an increasingly significant status in Governments' and organizations' day-to-day undertakings, as well as in individuals' everyday lives."

"Blockchain is steadily moving towards becoming a multi-billion market by 2019 and we, at Smart Dubai, have successfully embedded the technology in numerous services, the latest of which was the advanced 'Dubai Pay Blockchain Settlement and Reconciliation System', which eliminates friction from financial processes between government entities through automation and minimal human intervention. And with the launch of the Dubai Blockchain Platform today, we will be one step closer to implementing Blockchain-powered services and experiences into citizens' day-to-day lives," H.E. Lootah concluded.

General Manager, IBM Middle East, and Pakistan, Amr Refaat, said, "In the past few years, technologies such as blockchain have moved up on the agenda in Dubai. Today, proof of concepts are bypassed and organizations are moving into full-scale productionBlockchain provides an added layer of trust and transparency among government organizations and businesses and helps make collaboration more efficient. The new IBM Blockchain-based service will enable organizations to keep their data in-country and conduct transactions locally. It also conforms to Dubai Government's Information Security Regulation standards."

The Dubai Blockchain Platform will be powered by IBM's mainframe technology, LinuxONE, capable of handling more than 6.2 billion web transactions per day.