Doha, Qatar: Qatar is strategically positioning itself as a global leader in the realm of digital assets and decentralised technologies in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, Kamal Youssefi, President of The Hashgraph Association (THA), has said.

THA is a Swiss non-profit that drives global adoption of Hedera-powered solutions by funding innovation, training, and venture programmes. It promotes economic inclusion and a digital future with a positive ESG impact.

Speaking to The Peninsula recently, Youssefi asserted that Qatar has all the ingredients to replicate and even surpass the success stories of financial hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong.

“With its forward-thinking policies, commitment to innovation, and alignment with Qatar Vision 2030, the nation is poised to elevate its financial infrastructure to new heights,” he said.

To achieve this, Youssefi emphasises the importance of continuous collaboration with entities like the Qatar Financial Centre, banks, and other authorities. “Together, they aim to build a robust IT infrastructure capable of meeting the demands of the global digital assets market,” he noted.

He added that Qatar has continued to make noticeable strides in technology and tech investments either through direct investments or organising events such as the Web Summit, which has been a resounding success since its maiden edition last year.

“Qatar has announced investments of $2.4bn in AI, which could reel in $11bn for the economy. Qatar’s ICT sector spending is also expected to amount to $9bn with investments in cloud services, the internet, and cybersecurity for data protection. The current Qatar 2030 strategy and the implementations across the board for blockchain solutions, AI solutions, and strategies to attract capital and innovative startups is a great opportunity for The Hashgraph Association because it aligns with our aims as well,” he noted.

Last year, The Hashgraph Association signed a landmark strategic partnership with the Qatar Finance Centre (QFC) to establish a Digital Assets Venture Studio. This initiative aims to equip Qatari talent with the technical and functional expertise needed to design, develop, and deploy Web3 use cases and viable decentralised solutions tailored to the financial sector.

The $50m digital asset venture studio is focused on investments in Hedera-powered Web3 startups and enterprises building bankable DeFi solutions. The program will span from 2024 to 2028, with THA contributing to 20% ($10m) of the investment. “We believe that the MENA region and Qatar are well placed to lead in the Web3 era. That is one of the reasons we partnered with the QFC Digital Assets Lab to invest in startups, as well as help enterprises and governmental entities to offer solutions built on DLT/blockchain technology,” Youssefi added.

According to him, with the partnership, THA aims to enable entrepreneurs at the local as well as regional level to develop innovative digital solutions based on the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain into viable digital applications by building the necessary local capacities, developing a robust IT infrastructure, and helping to establish strategic partnerships at the international level in the digital assets space. Youssefi noted that THA aims to equip Qatari youth with the functional and technical knowledge to design and develop innovative applications and viable digital solutions in the field of digital assets, as well as providing dedicated resources and allocated investments to achieve short-term success and ensure business continuity in the space.

“Additionally, our strategic goals in Qatar also include designing qualification and empowerment programs in the digital assets space in line with international standards and requirements; establishing active partnerships with technology pioneers and venture capital firms specialising in digital assets around the world; and fostering business growth and catalysing collaboration between the local and international digital assets ecosystem,” he said.

He added that the organisation has qualified three asset tokenisation projects, including Sukuk Tokenization, whose strategic goal is to launch on-chain sukuk to be the tool to take Islamic finance to a new level. “This will provide Muslims from around the world with the opportunity to invest in accessible Islamic bonds in a Shariah-compliant way. There is also the Carbon Credit Tokenization and the Real World Asset Tokenization,” he said.