The announcement of the global technology network IOTA registering a development foundation in Abu Dhabi gave a huge boost to its native token, IOTA, propelling its price by roughly 38% since yesterday.
The IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation has become the first to get a nod from Abu Dhabi regulators after its financial authority passed a new regulatory framework for blockchain foundations earlier this month.
IOTA’s $100 Million Abu Dhabi Foundation To Drive DLT Growth
The open-source blockchain developer IOTA has made history by becoming the first blockchain foundation, the IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation, registered under the DLT Foundations Regulations created by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) financial regulator.
According to the Nov.29 official statement, the new foundation will be funded by $100 million in IOTA tokens, which will be locked up for the next four years. The initiative is aimed at accelerating the development of IOTA’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) and “convert real-world assets into digital ones”.
“The market right now is being reshuffled so we have a big opportunity to position ourselves by focusing on onboarding institutions, offering them to work on-chain because now it’s more feasible to do that in the UAE,” the firm’s co-founder and chairman Dominik Schiener explained.
Besides expanding its technology to support developments in the Middle East, IOTA, a cryptocurrency platform aimed at supporting the Internet of Things, will also start tokenizing assets.
This historic feat puts IOTA at the forefront of digital and real-world convergence in the financial sector, both in the MENA region and globally.
IOTA Price Makes A Splash
The registration of the IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation under ADGM had a considerable impact on the price of the token. IOTA soared from 17 cents to as high as 28 cents shortly after the news emerged, reaching its highest level since February. The token has since settled around $0.237 at press time.
The latest development comes after IOTA announced plans in September to launch a regulated entity in Abu Dhabi to promote the network’s international expansion.
Notably, IOTA is one of many crypto companies that received approvals from regulators in Abu Dhabi in recent weeks. India-based digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure provider Liminal also scored the regulatory OK from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) earlier this month.
Further, Paxos on Wednesday secured in-principle approval to issue the United States dollar-backed stablecoins in Abu Dhabi. The string of approvals comes as Abu Dhabi intensifies its efforts to fortify its position as the leading jurisdiction for the blockchain industry.
