Infrastructure: How Dubai can stay in front
By staying at the forefront of emerging technologies, Dubai is well positioned for the future writes Allsopp & Allsopp CEO Lewis Allsopp
The approval of the virtual assets law and the establishment of the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority is a step ahead for Dubai. The city continues to remain at the forefront of emerging technologies and aligns with how the world is developing.
By creating an authority and infrastructure to measure and facilitate the growth of virtual assets, the United Arab Emirates is keeping itself ahead of most of the world. The leadership of the country is always quick to react to the latest developments in business but always pays close attention to technology and innovation.
Dubai is forward-thinking and always has been but I think we saw this as clear as day, when the Dubai 2040 Urban Plan was announced at a time when the world was still heavily talking about the COVID-19 pandemic and their recovery strategies, with some still heavily in the throws of dealing with the virus.
The city’s leadership is always one step ahead and despite working through what the pandemic threw at them, they were able to execute the launch of the vision of the city in years to come. It gives residents and onlookers across the globe, immense confidence, therefore attracting investors, new companies, existing companies, professionals and families.
The virtual assets law and the establishment of the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority will have a positive impact on business start-ups, established businesses opening offices in Dubai, innovation, creation and so much more by giving consumers a chance to invest or purchase with cryptocurrencies.
The real estate industry in Dubai has seen investors buying properties with cryptocurrency already. However, we are still a bit away from this becoming the norm. It is still very early days of virtual assets being used to buy real estate here in Dubai, however, it is encouraging to see that Dubai has a regulatory framework in place, which I’m sure will advance as we see more virtual assets being used in the city.
As we move forward, I predict that we will see many aspects of the Dubai real estate industry becoming virtual. For example, title seeds. By digitalising these documents, the process of buying and selling properties could happen instantly rather than taking hours or days and could happen without both buyer and seller being present. This, I believe, is where Dubai is headed, and I see this happening in the not so distant future.
