Blockdaemon gets green light for UAE expansion in Abu Dhabi

Blockchain infrastructure firm BlockDaemon has announced that it will expand its presence in the United Arab Emirates with a new office and entity in Abu Dhabi.

The company said its expansion plans were greenlit by the local registration authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph in May. 13.

Part of its expansion plans are to operate and provide Web3 infrastructure solutions in the UAE. This requires having its own node and authenticator infrastructure solutions available in the region along with self-hosted MPC wallet technology.

According to Amor Sexton, BlockDemon's Chief Operating Officer, this move is a major step for the company's presence in the UAE.

Arvind Ramamurthy, head of market development at ADGM, echoed the sentiment, saying that they are trying to create an environment conducive to the growth and success of Web3 companies.

“The decision of a well-known institutional-level blockchain infrastructure company to expand in this region with ADGM underscores the progressive regulatory environment offered by our global financial center.”

Ramamurthy said they are waiting to see what opportunities such approvals can “open up” in the region. Blockdaemon focuses on developing institutional-level infrastructure for blockchain protocols, crypto-native and traditional financial institutions.

Cointelegraph reached out to Blockaemon for more information about the expansion.

Related: EU crypto rules bogged down by lack of enforcement, observers say

This move follows Blockaemon's gradual efforts to expand its presence in certain regions. In the year It expanded to the Asia-Pacific region in February 2022 and made its first foray into the EMEA region a month later in March.

In September 2021, Blockdaemon achieved “unicorn” status with $155 million, increasing its total value to $1.255 billion at the time.

At the TOKEN 2049 event in Dubai in April, Barnaby Hodgkins, BlockDemon's general manager of growth strategy, told Cointelegraph that institutional adoption in the blockchain and crypto industries is currently at an all-time high.

Although it is at the highest level, it does not mean that there is a “load”, but there is still room for growth.

On May 5, Blockdaemon became one of eight companies that pledged to use the stack software – one of the leading Bitcoin layer-2 networks with smart contract functionality.

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