Dubai's Emirates signs preliminary deal to add crypto to payments
Emirat es has signed a preliminary deal with Crypto.com that will allow its customers to make payments through the crypto trading platform's payment service, the Gulf carrier's parent company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The partnership, which is expected to come into effect next year, is aimed at tapping into "younger, tech-savvy customer segments who prefer digital currencies", Adnan Kazim, Emirates' deputy president and chief commercial officer, said in a statement.
The United Arab Emirates has been emerging as a key hub for crypto companies in recent years, with several setting up shop or seeking to expand, and has enabled payments via cryptocurrencies in areas like real estate, school fees and transportation. In Dubai, which set up watchdog VARA in 2022 to regulate the emerging virtual asset sector, one of the city's largest free zones, the DMCC, hosts more than 650 crypto firms.
Other airlines have in recent years adopted cryptocurrencies as payment options. In the Gulf, Dubai-listed Air Arabia said in May it would accept UAE dirham-backed stablecoin AE Coin for flight bookings.
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Time of India
10 hours ago
- Time of India
Assam govt puts green hydrogen policy hold; investors hit
Assam government has unexpectedly put its much-anticipated green hydrogen policy on hold, a move that has surprised potential investors and added to concerns following recent cuts in clean energy incentives. The state had aimed to attract significant investments in its renewable energy sector, a region that has historically lagged behind other parts of India in adopting clean energy. Initial interest in green hydrogen projects had been expressed by major energy firms, including NTPC Green, Larsen & Toubro, Singapore-listed Sembcorp, and Abu Dhabi-based Ocior . However, the state's decision to pause the policy has forced these companies to re-evaluate their investment plans and projected returns, potentially impacting millions of dollars in capital. "Every state keeps on revising its policy and what incentive it can give based on the demand and requirement," said Krishna Kumar Dwivedi , Principal Secretary at Assam's power department, without elaborating on the reasons for the halt or the reduction in previously announced incentives. Investors' concerns The green hydrogen policy was initially unveiled in February. The surprising pause follows a similar pattern seen in June when Assam significantly reduced transmission subsidies and increased bank guarantees within its solar policy compared to the original framework. Industry experts are voicing concerns over the inconsistency of the policy environment in the state. "Investors look for long-term stability even if policies aren't best designed," said Debabrat Ghosh, Head of India at Aurora Energy Research. Furthermore, a significant challenge for green hydrogen projects in Assam is the state's limited renewable energy sources. This could lead to a reliance on neighbouring states for power, driving up costs and reducing competitiveness. An official from a large Indian renewables developer highlighted this concern, stating, "Without adequate subsidies for transmission, power costs could be 10-15 per cent higher. Unless such costs are reduced, Assam will fall behind other states with more competitive policies." The state government is reportedly working on a new draft policy, which is anticipated by the end of this month.
NDTV
11 hours ago
- NDTV
$100 Million Crypto Tokens, Missing Footprint And The Trump Connection
Of all the riddles wrapped in the digital wallets sending funds to President Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto business, a little-known entity last month became the biggest. A venture calling itself Aqua 1 Foundation and saying it is based in the United Arab Emirates announced in late June it had bought $100 million worth of World Liberty's crypto tokens, becoming the largest publicly known investor in the business. Yet a review by Reuters of corporate registries, Aqua 1's digital profile and other public information reveals almost nothing about the source of its capital or the person it named as its founding partner, Dave Lee. Reuters could not find a way of contacting Lee directly. An Aqua 1 press release, which was published on as sponsored content, listed an email for a person named Dora Lee as a media contact. In response to a Reuters request, the company last month provided an unsigned statement, saying: "At this stage, we are not disclosing additional information beyond what has been publicly shared." It added: "Aqua 1 is backed by a group of long-term, mission-aligned partners and led by Dave Lee and a global team with deep expertise in web3 and digital asset infrastructure." Aqua 1 did not respond to a detailed set of questions for this story. The Trump family receives three-quarters of all token proceeds from World Liberty, meaning the purchase by Aqua 1 will have injected tens of millions of dollars into their personal coffers. The Trumps have now earned around $500 million from World Liberty since the crypto platform was launched last fall, Reuters calculations show. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Reuters that while pursuing a pro-crypto agenda, the president has taken steps to insulate himself from his family's gains. "President Trump is dedicated to making America the crypto capital of the world and revolutionizing our digital financial technology," Kelly said in an emailed statement. "His assets are in a trust managed by his children, and there are no conflicts of interest." World Liberty and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. The identities of nearly all of the million-dollar buyers of the World Liberty tokens, which go by $WLFI, are hidden behind anonymous digital wallets. The personal and business backgrounds of several of the top buyers of the tokens, however, are widely known, including those of China-born investor Justin Sun, who with a $75 million investment was the previous biggest publicly known buyer, and Dubai-based market maker DWF Labs, whose managing partner is Andrei Grachev, a crypto entrepreneur from Russia. Representatives for DWF Labs, which in April announced the purchase of $25 million in World Liberty tokens, said the firm does not know Aqua 1 or Lee. Abu Dhabi's state-affiliated investment fund MGX, which chose World Liberty's crypto stablecoin for its $2 billion investment in the Binance exchange, did not respond to a request for comment on Aqua 1, nor did Sun's company Tron. Aqua 1 had said in its June 26 announcement that World Liberty would also support its launch of a separate fund aimed at boosting the Middle East's "digital economy transformation." Aqua 1 said it would list the new fund in the Abu Dhabi Global Market financial centre. A day later, World Liberty said on social media that it was "excited to continue to build the next generation of DeFi" with Aqua 1 and Dave Lee. Contacted by Reuters, the Abu Dhabi financial centre said by email: "Aqua 1 is not registered, licensed, or affiliated" with it "in any capacity." World Liberty and Trump's other crypto businesses are facing growing criticism from his U.S. political rivals and ethics experts over their potential for influence peddling. The potential for conflicts of interest that has accompanied Trump's crypto ventures as his administration shapes regulations on the sector have also drawn criticism. In March, UAE officials committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment plan in the United States after meeting with Trump. Richard Painter, a professor at University of Minnesota's law school and former chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush said the lack of transparency on investors in the Trump family's crypto business, such as Aqua 1, undermined public confidence in the government. Without more information, Painter said, "everybody assumes the worst" in terms of foreign actors trying to influence the White House. "We ought to know who is sending money to the president," he said. MINIMAL PROFILE Aqua 1 describes itself on its website as a "Web3-native fund based in UAE with a global outlook." Such funds invest in blockchain and crypto firms making products for a futuristic idea of a decentralized internet. Crypto funds seeking to register in the UAE typically choose Abu Dhabi Global Market, the Dubai International Finance Centre or the UAE's Securities and Commodities Authority, said Zainab Kamran, a lawyer at NeosLegal who specializes in digital assets. Registration typically takes between six and 12 months for crypto funds, with funds gravitating towards Abu Dhabi because of its well-developed crypto framework and focus on institutional finance, she said. "The bar is very high," in the UAE, Kamran said. Reuters could not confirm under which authority, if any, Aqua 1 had registered. A spokeswoman for the regulator of the Dubai International Finance Centre directed Reuters to its public register. The news agency could not identify any entity by the name of Aqua 1 or Aqua 1 Foundation, or anyone by the name of Dave Lee. That was also the case at the register of Dubai's crypto regulator, VARA, a spokesman for which said it "has not engaged with Aqua 1 or Mr. Dave Lee." Aqua 1 or Aqua 1 Foundation do not appear in the register of UAE Securities and Commodities Authority-licensed companies, either. The authority did not respond to a request for comment. Aqua 1's website was created in May, a month before it announced its investment, according to two web domain trackers, with the names of its registrants redacted. The website contains no information on Aqua 1's leadership or financial backers. Scant public information exists about Lee. An X account in his name, registered in 2023, has made only a handful of posts, starting with an announcement of the World Liberty deal. The account calls Lee an "investor and dreamer," with a profile picture that features a manga-style portrait of a young man in a bow tie, along with Brazilian, Chinese and U.S. flags. It cites as his locations Sao Paulo, New York, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi. Aqua 1's prior crypto trades suggest a thin investment record. Data from crypto tracker Arkham shows the only large outgoing trades from a wallet tagged " were two transfers totaling $80 million to World Liberty in early June. It had also made transfers of $9 million in March and $3 million in April, both to anonymous crypto wallets. Between March and June, it received about $90 million from an account at the OKX crypto exchange. Aqua 1's assets under management total $100 million, according to a profile on the Medium social publishing platform, suggesting that the World Liberty deal is its only current investment.
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Business Standard
14 hours ago
- Business Standard
Assam halts green hydrogen policy; investors reassess plans: Report
India's northeastern state of Assam has put its flagship green hydrogen policy on hold, government and industry sources said, surprising investors already hit by a cut in incentives for clean energy projects. The state, the largest in the northeast, has sought to attract major investments in a region that has lagged behind much of the country in renewable energy adoption, offering financial incentives and waivers to bring in electricity. Energy firms, including NTPC Green, Larsen And Toubro, Singapore-listed Sembcorp, and Abu Dhabi-based Ocior, expressed initial interest in bidding for green hydrogen projects in Assam, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Assam's decision to pause the green hydrogen policy surprised some of the companies, forcing them to recalibrate potential returns and investment plans worth millions of dollars, three of the sources said. The state is now working on a new draft policy, which is expected by the end of this month, the government official said. The companies did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comment. The industry officials and sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak on the matter. Green hydrogen is produced using clean electricity and is seen as a decarbonisation tool to help limit global warming. "Every state keeps on revising its policy and what incentive it can give based on the demand and requirement," Krishna Kumar Dwivedi, principal secretary at Assam's power department, said without elaborating. He did not provide details on why Assam is holding back on the policy or the reasons for cuts in previously announced incentives. The clean energy policy was first unveiled in February. In June, Assam sharply reduced transmission subsidies and increased bank guarantees in its solar policy compared to the initial framework. "Investors look for long-term stability even if policies aren't best designed," said Debabrat Ghosh, head of India at Aurora Energy Research. An official from a large Indian renewables developer said the lack of renewable energy sources in Assam will make green hydrogen projects in the state dependent on its neighbours for power, which will drive up costs and lower competition. "Without adequate subsidies for transmission, power costs could be 10%-15% higher. Unless such costs are reduced, Assam will fall behind other states with more competitive policies," the official said.
