Dubai has partnered with IBM to launch a Blockchain registry that will help businesses operate under its jurisdiction. The latest step in the city’s 2020 Blockchain Strategy was announced in an official press release May 1.

The Dubai Blockchain Business Registry Project will also see involvement from Smart Dubai and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), while the government input comes in the form of the Department of Economic Development (DED).

Together, they will seek to add extra features to Dubai’s extant blockchain for business project known as Unified Commercial Registry (UCR).

The Registry will store registration information from companies, as well as keep track of changes, and thus “will streamline the process of setting up and operating a business, roll out digital exchange of trade licenses and related documentation for all business activities, and ensure regulatory compliance across Dubai’s business ecosystem,” the press release explains.

Dubai’s 2020 Blockchain Strategy has made steady progress since it began in 2016. Authorities aim to transform the emirate into a hub for the technology, using it to power municipal apparatus such as public services and beyond.

“With the Blockchain Corporate Registry, investment as well as doing business in Dubai will become a seamless and smart experience, and testimony to successful innovation,” Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of DED commented.

IBM Middle East’s general manager Amr Refaat shared the enthusiasm, the IT giant having become a leader in blockchain experimentation in its own right over the past two years.

“Dubai is a leader in innovation with many ambitious projects that have already become a reality,” he said.