Dubai to Launch A State-backed Blockchain Payments System and Digital Currency ‘emCash’
In the very near future, Dubai residents will be able to make payments for school fees, bills and other retail expenses with emCash, a blockchain-based digital currency developed by the emirate.
UAE’s official credit bureau-emCredit- under the Dubai Department of Economic Development, is gearing for the launch of its official blockchain-encrypted digital currency emCash for greater adoption by rolling out point-of-sale (PoS) devices at storefronts across Dubai.
PoS devices will be made available at retail storefronts across the emirate, allowing both citizens and residents the chance to make purchases using the state-backed crypto emCash, developed in collaboration with blockchain payments provider Pundi X.
According to a spokesperson for the state-backed group emCredit:
“To be the world’s first city to offer blockchain-based payment solutions to our residents is an exciting moment for Dubai…Deploying cutting-edge technology such as blockchain is a key priority and is delivering benefits to our citizens in the form of convenience and securities to customers and merchants across Dubai.”
emCash was established as Dubai’s first blockchain-based digital currency as a digital comparable to the dirham, UAE’s fiat currency.
Although UAE residents use the digital currency through a Smartphone app ‘emPay’, the blockchain allowing the digital currency is harmonious with shared ledgers to record transactions immediately while ‘control over payments is not limited to any single member in the emPay ecosystem,” noted emCredit chief executive Muna Al Qassab.
The whole ecosystem made up of the digital currency, the Smartphone application and the PoS terminals will undergo series of testing before the government grants its approval later this year.
The new initiative is coinciding with government’s recent launch of a citywide blockchain payments platform connecting all 38 government entities, collaborating financial institutions and other municipal departments in the UAE’s largest and most populous emirate.
