Smart Dubai Office has signed a MoU with Avanza Solutions, a leading software solutions provider, in order to deploy a city-wide blockchain payments platform.

The MoU was signed under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. The MoU marks his vision to transform Dubai into the 1st Government in the world to execute all applicable transactions on the blockchain by 2020.

The blockchain platform ‘Cipher’ by Avanza Solutions was selected by Smart Dubai Office to deliver a Pilot Project under the Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA) program, which is a unique program for cutting-edge entrepreneurs, in partnership with the government of Dubai. With Cipher, Avanza has delivered a pilot project to provide an instant reconciliation and settlement platform to Smart Dubai Office for DubaiPay payment platform.

“I am confident with Avanza’s expertise in payment solutions combined with their Cipher blockchain platform, they will support the Smart Dubai Office with technology that not only bridges current gaps but also becomes a vital piece in Smart Dubai’s roadmap for payment processes in the near future,” Dr. Aisha, Director General, Smart Dubai, said at the signing ceremony.

The pilot project was delivered in collaboration with Dubai Smart Government and Emirates NBD. Smart Dubai Office is planning to launch Cipher across all its existing 38 partner government entities, partner financial institutions and Departments in a move to establish the first blockchain based building block within its financial plumbing.