Eros Investments, the Entertainment & Technology portfolio of ventures, announced a strategic partnership with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) to operate under Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), and enable growth of the worldwide Web 3.0 industry and associated blockchain businesses from Dubai as the Hub.
Foundational Cornerstones of the Partnership include:
- Eros Investments to launch a specialised mega-accelerator fund to enable 100+ startups and SMEs across Blockchain and Web 3.0 by 2025 in DWTCA, with global industry-shapers and home-grown anchors in ICT and Content distribution;
- Eros investee portfolio and all affliates to seek to be VARA licensed and operate the first-of-its kind ‘fully regulated, decentralised DLT platform’ for the global Media, Art and Entertainment industry, from Dubai;
- Xfinite is a flagship ‘watch-to-earn’ closed loop platform with XET and NFT Marketplace to join a rigourously vetted shortlist of international participants in the VARA MVP programme, and build towards the mass market Virtual Asset Exchange (VAX) License;
- VARA to engage Eros in building secure IP guardrails to foster fair creative industry participation, scaling direct connectivity between global talent, content aggregators, and the audience.
Blockchain and Crypto has seen an exponential growth specifically through the pandemic, estimated to be at over 300 Million users globally (source Triple A) at the end of 2021. However, this phenomenon remains relatively nascent due to undefined global standard for operations and risk controls. Continued regulatory uncertainty, with limited legal clarity and rights protection assurance presents a significant untapped opportunity to (i) scale economic freedom; and (ii) enable safe main stream access to/interaction with content.
Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of DWTCA commented, “For any industry to be a sustainable contributor to the new economy, it is imperative that governments provide robust guard rails in a legitimate environment so that businesses can innovate ‘responsibly’, and consumers can experience with ‘confidence’. To this end, Dubai’s VARA is commited to building a secure and progressive market environment that can deliver a ‘technology and sector agnostic’ future economy. We are already witnessing the mass proliferation of Blockchain, and the accelerated migration to Web 3.0 – one that we are here to nurture, strengthen and sustain. We find in Eros, strong alignment in objectives to create a decentralised framework for the creative, lifestyle and media industries, and are looking forward to partnering with their global value chain partners to design scalable models for the metaverse”.
Kishore Lulla, Chairman, Eros Investments, said, “Innovation is entrenched in the DNA of Eros Investments in much the same way as it is in Dubai, and we are humbled by the opportunity offered to us by H.E. Helal to participate in this incubation ecosystem that the VARA has established to accelerate the global blockchain and web3 revolution from the very heart of Dubai. Eros is in advanced stages of readiness to launch a revolutionary multi-verse experience that bridges the physical and virtual world in a uniquely relatable way, for all ages and cultures. I am excited by the prospect of creating an open stage for the world to witness ‘first-hand’ the same multi-cultural dynamism of the Metaverse through the lens of the city of Dubai in the real world. Last week’s opening of the VARA MetaHQ has already seen growing interest from our industry partners to participate in this environment with us, so we collectively build the future of our industry together with Dubai.”
