The Web3 Alliance of Saudi Arabia (WASA) has launched with three global Web3 players SandBox, Animoca Brands, and Outlier Ventures, as collaborators.

Outlier Ventures is a global Web3 accelerator, Sandbox is an immersive metaverse platform, while Animoca Brands is a Web3 leader that leverages blockchain to deliver digital property rights to consumers around the world to help establish the open metaverse. 

The Web3 Alliance of Saudi Arabia (WASA) operates as a non-profit organization seeking to unite blockchain and digital innovation leaders to drive Web3 adoption in KSA in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

The trio of projects aim to create a collaborative ecosystem to empower businesses and drive sustainable growth within the country.

The alliance’s board consists of local stakeholders

The alliance’s board is composed of industry leaders and experts based in Saudi Arabia, actively driving the Kingdom’s digital transformation. Supported by both international and local companies, the board members include Dr. Abeer Al Humaimeedy, Yasser Alobaidan, Omar Elassar, Dr. Majid Almansouri, Wajd Badawi, Billal Yamak, Vincent Li, Bandar Altunisi, Ali Alasiri, and Stephan Apel. All the named members are engaged in advancing innovation within the country.

“The Web3 Alliance of Saudi Arabia represents a crucial step forward in realizing the Kingdom’s vision for a digital future,” said Billal Yamak. “By bringing together expertise from both local and international leaders in the blockchain space, we’re creating a powerful platform for innovation and growth.”

In 2023, Outlier Ventures launched its Saudi Base Camp Program which it noted marked the beginning of a concerted focus on the MENA region to accelerate the local technology and Web3 landscape.

In 2024, Animoca Brands and Saudi Arabian NEOM Investment Fund signed a strategic partnership that included $50 million convertible notes financing from NEOM into Animoca.

The WASA alliance will focus on four key pillars

As per the press release, the alliance will focus on four key pillars.

The first is awareness and education through workshops, seminars, and conferences. Secondly, WASA will focus on the development of standards and best practices.

Third on the list, it will support networking and collaboration opportunities. Finally, the alliance will lead research and development initiatives.

WASA will serve as the primary advocate for Web3 technology in the region, working independently to promote innovation rather than individual companies or entities.

The alliance’s governance structure includes a general assembly and an executive committee, ensuring transparent and effective leadership.

According to a recent KPMG report entitled, “Beyond the Hype: Balancing Speed, Security, and Value,” which provided insights into the Kingdom’s digital transformation, interest in Web3 technologies is also growing, with 69% expressing enthusiasm for innovation.

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Taurus, a Swiss digital asset infrastructure provider backed by Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, has integrated two of its flagship products with the Solana network. The move should encourage global financial institutions and developers to build tokenized asset solutions.

The integrated products are the custody platform Taurus-PROTECT and the digital issuance and tokenization platform Taurus-CAPITAL. The latter allows users to issue and manage NFTs and tokenized assets on public and private blockchains, and to interact with any smart contract.

Taurus-PROTECT allows banks and issuers to custody and stake any Solana-native tokenized assets. At the same time, Taurus-CAPITAL provides them with token extensions to issue programmable tokenized assets on this massively popular blockchain.

Jürgen Hofbauer, Head of Global Strategic Partnerships at Taurus, commented that the integration allows their banking and enterprise clients to access an advanced platform to tokenize various assets. These include equity, debt, structured products, funds, tokenized deposits, and CBDCs. At the same time, the clients minimize costs and operational complexities, he said.

Solana’s TVL Stands at $9 Billion

The press release shared with Cryptonews noted that Solana is an ideal platform for tokenized asset issuance and management thanks to its scalability, speed, and low transaction fees. The popular network’s features enable efficient and flexible solutions for institutional clients.

Solana is the second-biggest blockchain by total value locked (TVL) with $9 billion, behind Ethereum’s $57.8 billion. It hit its highest point of $12.19 billion in January this year.

Solana TVL:

Hofbauer commented that the company’s integration with Solana is “a significant milestone for Taurus.” The blockchain’s scalability and cost-efficiency are “unparalleled in the industry.”

“By leveraging Solana’s high throughput and low latency, Taurus clients can achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency, enabling seamless automation of financial workflows and payment processes,” said the press release.

Meanwhile, Bitwise, Canary, 21Shares, VanEck, and Grayscale have all filed to set up spot US Solana ETFs, boosting investor interest.

2024: A Busy Year for Taurus

Meanwhile, founded in 2018, Taurus SA is a securities firm supervised and regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). It provides digital asset infrastructure to issue, custody, and trade any digital asset. It also operates a marketplace for private assets and tokenized securities.

Taurus’ products include the storage solution Taurus-PROTECT, the digital issuance and tokenization platform Taurus-CAPITAL, the blockchain node infrastructure Taurus-EXPLORER, and the regulated marketplace for digital assets TDX.

The Solana integration is the latest among the news the company has shared. In January this year, the Hashgraph Association (THA) and Taurus announced a strategic partnership to drive global adoption of Hedera’s distributed ledger technology (DLT), focusing on fast-growing regions.

The company had a busy last year. In March, Taurus partnered with Turkey’s Misyon Bank, so that the neobank could leverage its digital asset custody and tokenization technology. After this, in May, it announced the opening of its Vancouver office, marking its expansion into the North American market.

In August, amid a growing institutional demand for digital asset services, the major US financial services provider State Street partnered with Taurus to expand its offerings in the digital asset space. The following month, Taurus joined hands with the Swiss equity tokenization platform Aktionariat AG. These two teams worked to create the first regulated secondary market for tokenized shares of small and midsize enterprises (SMEs).

Then, in October, the firm integrated Chainlink’s platform to enable faster time-to-market for any class of tokenized assets on any blockchain. And in November, the Swiss-headquartered investment firm ISP Securities Ltd. partnered with Taurus to boost its digital asset offering.

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