Ripple partners DIFC to accelerate blockchain innovation in the UAE

Ripple, the US-based company behind the decentralised public blockchain XRP Ledger, has announced a strategic partnership with the DIFC Innovation Hub.

The partnership aims to tap into the XRPL and Ripple’s crypto solutions to advance the blockchain and digital assets innovation space in the United Arab Emirates.

According to an announcement Ripple published on August 7, the collaboration will help bring more developers to the Dubai International Financial Centre’s innovation ecosystem. This community makes up the DIFC Innovation Hub, which is the largest in the Middle East.

Brad Garlinghouse, chief executive officer of Ripple, said in a statement:

The UAE is one of the most advanced jurisdictions globally when it comes to offering regulatory clarity for licensed firms to offer virtual asset services and fostering an environment in which the next generation of financial innovation can flourish.

Driving growth for early-stage blockchain startups

The UAE’s growing attraction to the blockchain and crypto community has seen more than 1,000 growth-stage firms set shop in the DIFC Innovation Hub. Currently, these include tech firms, digital labs, regulators, venture capital firms and educational entities.

Now Ripple and the DIFC are looking to attract the next wave of developers – specifically early-stage startups and scale-ups.

The collaboration also targets providing an environment and incentive programs that will see businesses use the hub to create and deploy real-world use cases.

Commenting on the Ripple partnership, DIFC CEO Arif Amiri noted:

Today marks another milestone in DIFC’s ongoing journey to help facilitate growth and equip the next generation of leaders with everything they need to succeed. The Ripple collaboration further cements DIFC’s role as a leading global hub for talent, technology and innovation, as we continue to enhance our ecosystem powered by a world-class regulatory jurisdiction, to drive the future of finance.

Ripple’s 1 billion XRP program

The partnership between Ripple and the DIFC Innovation Hub will benefit from the 1 billion XRP Fund that Ripple launched in March 2022. The developer fund was an extension of Ripple’s XRP Grants announced in late 2021.

As the company highlighted at the time, the 1 billion XRP fund aims to help accelerate the adoption and development of the XRP Ledger.

The fund offers financial, technical and business support, with more than 160 teams across 47 countries benefiting to date. Projects that have come to the XRPL via the initiative include decentralised finance and real-world assets.

XRP approved in DIFC

Ripple’s latest partnership in the UAE comes less than a year after the DIFC approved the use of XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the XRPL. The approval in November 2023 allowed licensed virtual asset providers to integrate XRP.

XRP is currently the world’s seventh largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of over $28.8 billion.

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