PundiX consumers will pay for utilities, in-store payments, and telecommunications and school fees using cryptocurrencies

Dubai will become the world’s first city to offer blockchain-based payment solutions to residents

The announcement confirms Dubai’s status as a global blockchain innovation Centre

PundiX’s Cryptocurrency Push

Consumers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will pay for utilities, in-store payments, and telecommunications and school fees using cryptocurrencies. The city government will launch a digital currency emcash via emcredit, a state-backed subsidiary of Dubai Department of Economic Development.

The announcement made today October 8, 2018, said the initiative is a partnership between blockchain payment provider PundiX, Ebooc Fintech & Loyalty Labs LLC (PundiX’s exclusive partner in the Middle East & priority partner in Africa) and emcredit – Dubai’s Credit Bureau. However, speculation is rife on whether this initiative is supposed to be a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or a stable coin, thanks to the deep involvement of the government.

Pundi X, the Indonesian company that posted the press release, will offer the point of sale (POS) devices while the Dubai Fintech Ebooc will manage the digital wallet that has been exclusively for the emcredit exclusively for the Dubai project and will run a stable digital coin whose value is equivalent to the U.A.E. Dirham.

Propelling Crypto-Adoption

Ebooc is the first Emirates-based Fintech company to partner with PundiX to offer blockchain-based NextGen technology and loyalty solutions for their financial services sector. They expect the PundiX point of sale devices to roll out at different shop fronts following the signing of the deal today with high chances that more will be coming. Commenting on the deal, an emcredit spokesperson stated:

“To be the world’s first city to offer blockchain-based payment solutions to our residents is an exciting moment for Dubai. It confirms Dubai’s status as an international tech hub. Deploying innovative 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.”

Abdalla Al Shamsi, CEO DFP and co-founder ebooc said they were delighted to be part of history making as Dubai launches emcash and hoped that soon all payments in the country will be made using cryptocurrencies.

The statement said they will announce the finer details of this development in due course after the completion of the development, testing and government approval of the technology that will be used later this year.

The partnership, which is the company’s first deployment in the Middle East region, brings the leading blockchain-based XPOS technology into the public sector. The announcement also confirms Dubai’s status as a global blockchain innovation Centre and the f