The government of the Maldives signed an agreement with MBS Global Investments, a family office based in Dubai, with the event of a 9 billion dollar crypto and blockchain hub in Malé, the capital of the South Pacific Archipelago Nation.
According to a report from the Financial Times, the agreement signed on May 4 was written within the hope of averting the Maldives on the dependence on tourism and fishing by threw foreign direct investments in blockchain and web3 technologies.
The project describes plans for the Maldives International Financial Center, an 830,000 square meter facility, which is reported to as much as 16,000 people.
The completion of the project will take an estimated five years and the capital requirements for ambitious development are greater than the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $ 7 billion within the Maldives.
The geographical location of the Maldives. Source: Worldometer
The planned crypto hub reflects the growing importance of the crypto industry worldwide. The ambitions of the Maldives to grow to be a worldwide center for financial technology should fight well -capitalized, established jurisdiction resembling Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Established crypto and fintech hubs already on site
Dubai is a rapidly growing crypto and web3 hub within the United Arab Emirates (VAE) due to its positive regulatory environment, which promotes innovation, and a neighborhood government that’s able to explore blockchain technology in real applications.
On April sixth, Dubais Land Department (DLD) and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (Vara) signed an agreement to attach the property register with blockchain to enable more comprehensive real estate tokenization.
Hong Kong has also positioned itself as a crypto hub through proactive regulations that a whole lot of web3 and fintech corporations have attracted.
According to Ivan Ivanov, Global CEO from WoW Summit, a blockchain conference in Hong Kong, the special economy zone uses its position as a bridge between Western economies and China to draw investments and serves as a regulatory sandbox.
Singapore can also be a big international crypto center with dozens of Digital Asset Exchanges within the country and a whole lot of web3 corporations which have their headquarters there.
The country continues to draw global investments through a regulatory approach that promotes technological experimentation without being afraid of regulation's reprisals.