Tag: metaverse

At ZorroSign, we are huge advocates of blockchain technology and its role in the metaverse and web3. We truly believe that the future for maintaining the highest level of security and privacy for businesses and online transactions is rooted in blockchain solutions.

Dubai is a city embracing the use of blockchain technology and wooing forward-thinking entrepreneurs. It has a history of visionary innovation, having already attracted 1,000 companies in the blockchain and metaverse space.

Recently, Dubai hosted the Future Blockchain Summit—the MENA region’s longest-running exhibition and conference connecting key stakeholders across Blockchain, crypto and Web3. “Dubai is seen as the main hub for blockchain and Metaverse,” said LandVault CEO, Sam Huber, in a recent article in the Khaleej Times. Let’s take a closer look at the blockchain initiative that is taking place in Dubai . . .

Dubai’s Blockchain Strategy 

Dubai has taken a global lead in the use of blockchain technology with the Dubai Blockchain Strategy launched in October 2016 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum— propelling Dubai to be the first city in the world to conduct applicable government transactions via blockchain by 2020.

From that bold initiative—focused on improving government efficiency, creating new industry, and leading the world with paperless operations—Dubai has continually explored and evaluated distributed ledger technology innovations that demonstrate an opportunity to deliver more seamless, safe, efficient, and impactful city experiences.

It was from that 2016 vision that ZorroSign’s co-founder and CEO, Shamsh Hadi, drew inspiration to map his company’s emerging eSignature solution to blockchain. In the years since, ZorroSign has built a multi-chain blockchain platform uniting digital signatures, identity-as-a-service, automated compliance, and many more web3 technologies to support not only Dubai’s paperless initiatives and the vision of Sheikh Mohammed, but paperless operations for businesses, governments, and individuals around the world. Dubai’s blockchain strategy was a key beginning!

Dubai’s Metaverse Strategy

In September 2022, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, launched the Dubai Metaverse Strategy—aiming to turn Dubai into one of the world’s top ten metaverse economies as well as a global hub for the metaverse community.

“The Dubai Metaverse Strategy seeks to: 

• “Foster innovation, enhance the metaverse’s economic contributions through research and development collaborations, and promote advanced ecosystems utilizing accelerators and incubators that attract companies and projects to Dubai;
• “Foster talent and invest in future capabilities by providing the necessary support in metaverse education aimed at developers, content creators and users of digital platforms in the metaverse community; and,
• “Develop web3 technology and its applications to create new governmental work models and development in vital sectors, including tourism, education, retail, remote work, healthcare and the legal sector.”

Smart Dubai

“After the successful implementation of the strategy to transform Dubai into a Smart City by 2017, Dubai Government launched the Smart Dubai 2021 Strategy.”

With goals of customer happiness, economic growth, and resource and infrastructure resilience, the Smart Dubai 2021 Strategy presents six strategic objectives to achieve:

• A “smart livable and resilient city” — achieving full information and communication technology (ICT) enablement of critical infrastructure, enhancing resilience and delivering an integrated, sustainable urban experience.

• A “globally competitive economy powered by disruptive technologies” — digitally transforming economic sectors, transitioning to sustainability while fostering vibrant entrepreneurship and innovative ecosystems.

• An “interconnected society with easily accessible social services” ­—digitizing and simplifying access to services for residents and visitors, improving the quality of life and streamlining social, cultural, education, and healthcare experiences in the emirate.

• “Smooth transport driven by autonomous and shared mobility solutions” — pioneering mobile solutions for a seamless and safe transportation experience, harnessing autonomous transportation technologies, and reducing time spent commuting.

• A “clean environment enabled by cutting-edge ICT innovations” — deploying technologies that ensure sustainability and quality of the emirate’s resources (water, air, energy, and land), improving resource efficiency and conserving consumption, and digitally transform utilities/manufacturing/transportation to reduce the emirate’s carbon footprint.

• A “digital, lean connected government” — i.e., “a government with zero visits” eliminating the need to commute to and physically interact with the government via paperless, cashless government operations delivering optimized experiences and powered by world-class city-wide shared services and infrastructure.

“The Digital Dubai initiative represents a vision to recreate the traditional top-bottom city management model into one that is representative and sustainable,” writes David Ndichu for Gulf Business. “Data is the foundation for the smart city Dubai aspires to be and the emergent digital economy the country is fostering.”

ZorroSign and Dubai

ZorroSign’s CEO and co-founder, Shamsh Hadi, is a third-generation member of the Hadi family who have called Dubai their home for the last 55 years. 

ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain technology supports Dubai’s blockchain strategy, metaverse strategy, Smart Dubai 2021 strategy, and paperless initiatives while helping organizations around the world move to private, secure paperless operations. Our technology was built from the ground up using private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric blockchain—the blockchain architecture deployed by Amazon Web Services, IBM, Intel, Mastercard, Microsoft, PayPal, and more—and ZorroSign’s platform today also supports public, permissionless Provenance Blockchain.

When privacy and security is mission critical, organizations from Dubai to Dublin, Dallas to Dhaka need ZorroSign for digital signatures, transactions, and documentation. Put ZorroSign’s blockchain platform to the test by signing up for a free trial today at https://www.zorrosign.com/new/

We at ZorroSign recognize that the technology industry is constantly evolving and changing. As new innovations are created and others evolve, we find it important to stay on top of these trends so that we can provide our customers with the most current, useful and secure technology possible.

A report by Fortune Business Insights predicts that the global blockchain market will grow from $7.18 billion in 2022 to $163.83 billion by 2029. With that explosion in growth, here are some recent trends to keep your eye on as more and more blockchain solutions come to market . . .

Environmentally-Friendly Blockchains

While blockchain has brought about amazing transformation in businesses and the tech space, one of the largest obstacles for a future of blockchain is the excessive use of energy needed to run proof-of-work blockchains.

“Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind,” said Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, in a live-streamed Clubhouse session with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in 2021. “And so it’s not a great climate thing.”

However, evolving trends in blockchain technology increasingly focus on developing “greener” blockchain systems. Solutions like carbon offsetting and focusing on bringing less energy-intensive proof-of-stake blockchain architectures are introducing more environmentally-friendly blockchains.

“With the rise of blockchain technology, a number of platforms have emerged that are allowing users to reduce their overall energy consumption by a huge margin,” notes a recent article in Finance Magnates. “For example, Cardano reportedly consumes only 6 GWh of power per annum, while Stellar (XLM), Iota (MIOTA), and Tron, also have extremely low power needs.”

Furthermore, one of the most popular blockchain networks, Ethereum, is moving to a proof-of-stake algorithm this month with “The Merge.” This proof-of-stake validation offers a more sustainable solution for enterprises attempting to make the jump towards greener blockchains.

Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS)

At the intersection of blockchain and cloud computing can now be found Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)—a service offering that allows businesses to use cloud-based solutions to develop, host and adopt their own blockchain applications, smart contracts and other relevant functions on the blockchain. Here, the cloud-based IT partner or service provider manages all the required tasks and activities to keep the distributed ledger infrastructure up and running.

BaaS allows organizations to focus on operations and key tasks, and it reduces the technical difficulties and the need to purchase expensive technology solutions. Based on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, this third-party service delivers the installation, configuration, monitoring, and maintenance of the infrastructure. Moreover, this blockchain technology trend offers the ability to take benefit of blockchain features without the need to learn difficult coding.

Companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and others have already implemented it BaaS and we will continue to see other businesses make the leap.

Metaverse and Web3

Web3 refers to the next generation of the internet that will be decentralized, open, and run on blockchain. In its current form, web2 is overwhelmingly dominated by Big Tech corporations that use, control, and monetize the personal data of its users.

The dream of web3 is to break the centralization of information and democratize the Internet more to the vision of its earliest founders. “Web3,” claims Chris Dixon from Andreesen Horowitz in an article in The Economist, “combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of web1 with the advanced, modern functionality of web2.”

Web3 “will be based on the convergence of emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and augmented reality,” notes Neeti Aggarwal and Dandreb Salangsang in The Asian Banker. “It will be characterized by decentralized data, a more transparent and secure environment, machine cognitive intelligence and  three-dimensional design.”

Web3 advocates claim that the technology will give users back control over their data through decentralized applications.

The metaverse is essentially described as an immersive 3D world that users can transport themselves into for work, play, and communication by using a combination of VR, AR, and other advanced technologies. Blockchain is a driving force behind many aspects of the Metaverse, including NFTs, gaming, payment methods, virtual real estate, and even identity authentication.

The idea of the metaverse is sometimes inaccurately conflated with Web3. But while it’s built on Web3, the metaverse—or metaverses, given that there are many—is about user experience and arguably about web culture as much as the tech on which it relies.

The metaverse will become a virtual world that will provide its users with unforgettable digital experiences. And built on blockchain technologies, the more popular the metaverse becomes, then the more blockchains are deployed and engaged.

At ZorroSign, we love learning the latest trends in blockchain technology so that we can continue to provide the most secure and user-friendly digital signatures platform available. Put our blockchain to the test by signing up for a free trial at https://www.zorrosign.com/new/.

In a digital environment, transactions take place between people and organizations who may not know each other, and likely cannot verify each other’s identities using traditional, physical means.

Yet as the world moves more and more to digital transactions—exchanging real-world assets such as automobiles, financial instruments, goods and services, even real estate, to exchanging digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, in-game purchases, metaverse assets, NFTs, and even more in the years ahead—it becomes critical to verify exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every transactional document’s authenticity and immutability, to prevent forgery, fraud, or tampering.

CNBC reports that “Sales of real estate in the metaverse topped $500 million last year and could double this year, according to investors and analytics firms.” And transactions in the metaverse were expected to cross $6 billion in 2021, according to India’s Business Standard.

To facilitate commerce in digital realms, ZorroSign is pleased to include the Z-Verify feature in our multichain blockchain platform to protect privacy, secure transactions, and prevent fraud.

Digital Signatures for Digital Transactions

To transact business, commerce, government operations, or individual trade in a digital environment requires legally enforceable digital signatures to prove agreement and intent. There are several technologies supporting digital signatures, but how do such solutions provide legal enforceability? 

• They must ensure WHO is signing the legal documents via user authentication; plus,
• They must ensure WHAT was signed (agreed upon) via immutable document control with full audit trail of changes for document verification; and
• They must ensure WHERE, WHEN, and HOW digital signatures were executed in signing ceremonies via metadata captured on digital devices and digital network.

On June 30, 2000, then President Bill Clinton signed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act), establishing that electronic signatures have the same legality as traditional signatures on paper, and defined the criteria for legality. The legislation opened the door for digital transactions and digital commerce has boomed in its wake.

Digital Signatures on Blockchain

Since 2000, many technologies have come to market to deliver digital signatures, but when a distributed ledger technology—such as blockchain—is used for digital signatures, transaction parties gain the unique advantages of:

• Privacy — with a private, permissioned blockchain such as Hyperledger Fabric, only participants to the transaction can see details of the transaction, and those participants share equal access to such details
• Immutability — all blockchain records and changes are tracked and cannot be changed, providing important chain-of-custody audit capabilities for courts
• Security — all records are individually encrypted and distributed for better protected from phishing and ransomware attacks

Perhaps most importantly, digital signature platforms that incorporate Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) can authenticate users across multiple dimensions, such as what you know (your login password), what you have (your laptop or mobile device), and who you are (biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.

Digital Signatures with Z-Verify

ZorroSign’s Z-Verify unites multi-factor authentication, the biometric capabilities of your hardware devices, the opportunity for password-less logins, and even knowledge-based authentication (KBA) features—requiring the knowledge of private information of the individual to prove that the person providing identity information is the actual person—to ensure each party to the digital transaction is who they claim to be.

Further, Z-Verify features allow ZorroSign users to maintain and review a chronological, immutable, real-time record of transactions: Ensuring the security and privacy of users’ information and that of the data itself!

Z-Verify Benefits:

• Immutable attribution of the signatory of any document secured in ZorroSign
• Globally accepted security certificates that never expire – unlike any competitive solution certificates
• Secured by private, permission-based blockchain technology built on Hyperledger Fabric
• Authentication, verification and validation of digital and paper versions of documents using our patented Z-Forensics token
• Verification applies to internal (registered) and external (not registered) users alike!

To learn more about Z-Verify and how ZorroSign can ensure you know exactly who signs your digital documents, when they signed, how they signed, and what they signed has not changed—contact us today or start your Free 14-Day Trial subscription to test us yourself!