The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has significantly increased the pace of adoption of blockchain and Web3 technologies. In a recent development, the UAE’s Ministry of Economy has announced plans to inaugurate a headquarters in the metaverse. The announcement was made by UAE Finance Minister Abdullah bin Tauq Al Marri while addressing the Dubai Metaverse Assembly earlier this week. Along with Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the ministry calls its Metaverse the country’s “third address”. With this launch, the Ministry is exploring ways to expand the use cases of Web3 technology.
In a live tour of the virtual office, Mary demonstrated that the metaverse has created a lobby with a grand interior for the office of the Ministry of Finance. The decorated virtual auditorium looked ready to host events and conferences. People will be able to visit Metaverse offices as avatars and even sign legally binding documents, eliminating the need for signatories to visit one of their physical locations just for the signature.
“Our digital address represents the full edifice of the ministry. Each floor can serve different purposes. The visitor will receive a virtual ticket/token and a notification will be sent to our Customer Happiness Center to allow the visitor access to our offices in Metaverse.” said Khalifa Al Jaziri, who is an avatar representing the Ministry in the Metaverse.
A Nasdaq Report The market opportunity for Metaverse is expected to reach $800 billion (approx. Rs. 59,58,719 crore) by 2024.
The UAE has lined up a bunch of promising projects ready to feature in the Metaverse.
In April, the UAE’s Emirates Airlines announced its entry into the Metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT) space.
In May, Dubai’s recently formed Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) officially began work on its Metaverse presence. Partnering with Metaverse player The Sandbox, VARA has revealed plans to create a virtual headquarters in the digital world. This VARA office in the sandbox is called ‘MetaHQ’.
In July, the UAE announced plans to open the world’s first hospital in Metaverse, where patients will be able to undergo virtual consultations as avatars.
