The UAE will launch the world's first free zone for “companies of the future” that deal with digital and virtual assets. The project was announced at the Blockchain Life 2023 event by the government of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. 

The name of the new free zone is RAK Digital Assets Oasis. Its target audience is expected to be companies innovating in new and emerging sectors of the future, including the metaverse, blockchain, tokens, virtual asset wallets, NFT, DAO, DApp, and other Web3-related businesses.

Resident companies will be helped to innovate by advising their experts, providing funding, and creating hybrid workspaces and incubators for them.

Dr. Sameer Al Ansari, CEO of RAK Digital Assets Oasis, added: “We look forward to meeting the brightest Web3 minds in the world with their most breakthrough ideas.” “RAK Digital Assets Oasis is committed to empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs to create transformative solutions and shape the future of business and the economy.”

RAK is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2023. The first phase of the NextGenFDI initiative is expected to attract at least 300 digital companies. Overall, the free zone should help the UAE become a global leader in the digital economy.

The UAE has long been no newcomer to virtual assets and is constantly evolving in this direction. For example, on Feb. 28, 2022, the Dubai government issued the “Virtual Asset Regulation Law,” which sets standards for the management of the virtual asset industry. And in March 2022, an independent Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) was created to regulate the virtual asset sector in Dubai. We also recently wrote in detail about how you can buy real estate in Dubai with cryptocurrency and not pay taxes.