Solana Partners with Dubai’s Major Free-Trade Zone
The Solana Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind one of the leading blockchain platforms globally, has officially announced its partnership with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) Crypto Centre, the centerpiece of Dubai’s flourishing Web3 industry.
In a bid to fortify the Web3 ecosystem in Dubai, the Solana Foundation intends to provide an extensive support network to member companies and developers at the DMCC. The partnership aims to empower these entities to both build and upscale their ventures through specialized technical and business services based on Solana.
Solana Foundation Ventures Into Dubai
The DMCC, which is recognized worldwide as the premier free zone and the Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise, has enthusiastically brought the Solana Foundation on board as an ecosystem partner. This alignment complements DMCC’s pre-existing collaborations, bolstering the capacity of its members to mature and scale their initiatives using the Solana blockchain platform.
As a part of this alliance, the Solana Foundation is extending its grant program to companies affiliated with the DMCC and is slated to contribute to the DMCC Crypto Centre’s educational drive by hosting webinars and instructive courses on pertinent Web3 topics.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and CEO of DMCC, commented on this momentous collaboration, “Solana, with its remarkable market capitalisation of $8 billion, stands as one of the global leaders in the blockchain sphere. This association will ensure complimentary set up and business licensing for projects within the SOL ecosystem. Our members now have access to a premier blockchain platform and dedicated Solana engineering teams, which can elevate their businesses significantly.”
Dan Albert, Executive Director of the Solana Foundation, voiced his perspective as well, saying:
Dubai, with its dense conglomerate of crypto enterprises and its progressive growth-oriented mindset, made our partnership with DMCC an obvious choice. We’re eager to work closely with DMCC members, aiding them in integrating with our blockchain, and similarly connecting our existing ecosystem to DMCC.
The DMCC Crypto Centre serves as the heart of the Web3 and blockchain technologies industry in Dubai, offering a comprehensive suite of services and amenities required for crypto businesses to establish and expand their operations seamlessly. Other members of the DMCC include crypto exchange Bybit as well as DWF Labs, Ankr, Brink, Boba Network, and Hacken, among others.
Another Bullish SOL News
In a separate but equally bullish news for Solana, FTX has staked a whopping 5.5 million SOL tokens as per recent on-chain data from October 14. This transaction, detected and reported by crypto whale tracker Whale Alert, points to staking provider Figment and was later linked to an FTX wallet. Notably, the SOL tokens, valued at approximately $122 million, form only a minor fraction of FTX’s colossal $1.3 billion SOL holdings.
The vast majority of these holdings are slated for unlocking in the coming years. In September, FTX obtained provisional authorization to liquidate over $4 billion of its secured crypto assets as a means to reimburse customers. Galaxy Digital, a firm owned by Mike Novogratz, has been entrusted with overseeing this process.
However, with the recent staking of Solana tokens, the odds of FTX offloading this particular portion of its assets appear to have diminished. This move has been perceived positively within the Solana community, as evidenced by the SOL token witnessing a surge of over 5% in value within the last 24 hours following the announcement.
At press time, SOL traded at $23.18.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com