Ras Al Khaimah’s Innovation City Launches Blockchain-Based Digital Business Identity System

Innovation City, a Ras Al Khaimah-based free zone focused on artificial intelligence and Web3, has launched what it says is “the first blockchain-based digital business identity system.”

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The system assigns “every company registered in Innovation City” a “sovereign, cryptographically verifiable identity issued on OPN Chain,” according to a Monday release shared with Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin News

The project is built on infrastructure developed by “United Arab Emirates-based IOPn,” and it is designed to turn a business license from “a static PDF or database entry” into “a dynamic onchain asset.”

Cointelegraph reports that at launch the onchain identity framework is intended to extend across Innovation City’s “existing client base of over 1,000 companies,” with “immediate live utility within the free zone’s own digital ecosystem.”

The same Cointelegraph account says the identity is meant to be used for “access and verification across Innovation City touchpoints,” including “the business center and selected ecosystem services,” with expansion to partners “such as technology, marketing and legal providers.”

In a separate announcement carried by crypto.news, Innovation City’s CEO Paul Dawalibi said, “Today we don’t just register companies, we give them a soul on the blockchain,” framing the change as replacing “paper records and centralized databases” with a model that can “carry a verifiable identity across platforms and jurisdictions.”

The launch date is given as May 4, 2026 in the EIN News distribution of the press release, which states “May 04, 2026, 14:00 GMT” and describes the initiative as “a complete re-architecture of how businesses exist, prove themselves, and interact in the 21st century.”

Innovation City’s onchain identity rollout is explicitly tied to a UAE government directive to shift public services toward agentic AI within a fixed timeframe.

crypto.news says the rollout is linked to “the UAE’s plans to move 50% of government services to AI-driven systems within two years,” and it adds that Innovation City “linked the rollout to a recent directive from the United Arab Emirates government to transition 50% of federal services to agent-based artificial intelligence within two years.”

Cointelegraph

The EIN News press release similarly states, “The UAE government has just announced its bold directive to transition 50% of federal government sectors, services, and operations to Agentic AI within two years,” and it frames the timing as “not an upgrade. This is a complete re-architecture.”

In the same EIN News text, the press release argues that for “those intelligent agents to autonomously process licenses, permits, compliance checks, taxation, and cross-border interactions at machine speed,” the identity layer is a prerequisite.

Cointelegraph likewise describes the onchain identity as a way to reduce “verification uncertainty” created by “a static PDF or database entry,” and it says the model is designed to support “AI-driven workflows.”

The crypto.news announcement also says the system is intended to “reduce document fraud and remove delays tied to manual verification processes used by institutions such as banks and regulators,” while still noting that officials “did not identify specific banks, regulators, or institutions currently accepting the onchain identities.”

The Gulf News branded-content distribution repeats the same two-year linkage, saying “The timing is no coincidence” and that “The UAE government has just announced its bold directive to transition 50 per cent of federal government sectors, services, and operations to agentic AI within two years.”

The sources describe the onchain identity as being issued on OPN Chain and as relying on a technical design meant to support verification and interoperability.

“Innovation City launches a blockchain-based business ID system, giving more than 1,000 firms verifiable onchain credentials for identity and access”

Cointelegraph

Cointelegraph says the release describes OPN Chain as “the public blockchain infrastructure developed by United Arab Emirates-based IOPn,” and it reports that IOPn co-founder and chief operating officer Jimi Ibrahim said the network is “a public network where validator participation is open to institutions, infrastructure partners and governance-approved node operators.”

Cointelegraph also says Ibrahim described a “hybrid data model that keeps core transaction data and proofs onchain while handling sensitive or large datasets offchain.”

In the crypto.news announcement, Innovation City says the system is built on “an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain capable of processing more than 10,000 transactions per second with sub-second finality.”

The EIN News press release similarly claims “Built on a high-performance, EVM-compatible Layer 1 (10,000+ TPS, sub-second finality).”

The same crypto.news text says the system is designed for “cross-border interoperability,” allowing “third parties to verify business credentials without relying on centralized databases.”

It also quotes IOPn CEO Mojtaba Asadian saying, “IOPn is the sovereign infrastructure layer enabling the UAE’s agentic AI economy, starting with business identity and built to scale across jurisdictions, institutions, and sectors.”

Alongside the identity rollout, Cointelegraph’s account of Jimi Ibrahim links the project to concerns about how AI agents can be manipulated in crypto-related workflows.

Cointelegraph says “Recent exploits in which AI agents were socially engineered into authorizing crypto transfers from wallets they controlled have highlighted how autonomous systems can be manipulated,” and it connects those examples to “the resilience of AI-driven workflows.”

Cryptonews.net

Ibrahim is quoted by Cointelegraph saying, “human-in-the-loop authorization for consequential actions,” and he adds that “the agent layer is designed with adversarial scenarios as ‘a first principle, not an afterthought.’”

The same Cointelegraph piece says the launch comes “against the backdrop of regional conflict and fresh attacks involving the UAE on Monday,” and it cites “Recent eToro data” that “UAE investors have been adding to positions in AI infrastructure, software and crypto-linked assets during the conflict rather than cutting exposure, despite the heightened volatility.”

It also references an “April 13 Deutsche Bank report” that “said that the conflict is more likely to sharpen demand for AI rather than derail it.”

In the alternative crypto.news and TradingView reposts, the emphasis is less on exploits and more on the identity’s role in enabling AI-led government services, but they still describe the system as replacing “static licenses” with “verifiable digital records.”

The sources therefore place the onchain business identity launch within a broader narrative of AI automation, while simultaneously stressing that the agent layer is designed to anticipate adversarial scenarios.

The same Innovation City launch is framed differently across outlets, with some focusing on identity mechanics and others on broader claims about government transformation and verification.

“Innovation City, a Ras Al Khaimah-based free zone focused on artificial intelligence and Web3, has launched what it claims is the first blockchain-based digital business identity system”

Cryptonews.net

Cointelegraph highlights the business identity’s intended use for “access and verification across Innovation City touchpoints” and reports that Ibrahim said the framework is meant to extend across “over 1,000 companies,” while also noting that he “did not name specific banks, regulators or exchanges that currently accept or verify these onchain identities.”

Gulf News

crypto.news similarly describes the system as replacing “static licenses with verifiable digital records that track ownership, compliance, and activity,” but it adds a direct quote from Paul Dawalibi—“Today we don’t just register companies, we give them a soul on the blockchain”—and it emphasizes that officials said the system is designed to “reduce document fraud and remove delays tied to manual verification processes.”

TradingView’s repost largely repeats the Cointelegraph narrative about OPN Chain and the transformation from “a static PDF or database entry” into “a dynamic onchain asset,” and it again includes the point that the model’s impact depends on whether “external institutions adopt it.”

By contrast, the EIN News and Gulf News branded content uses more expansive language, calling the license a “dynamic, immutable, soul bound digital asset” and describing “Radical transparency & auditability” and “Instant, trustless verification” as benefits, while also asserting “This is not a nice-to-have. It is rapidly becoming table stakes.”

The Gulf News branded distribution also includes a quote from Paul Dawalibi—“Today we don’t just register companies, we give them a soul on the blockchain”—and it includes a quote from Mojtaba Asadian that begins, “IOPn is the sovereign infrastructure layer enabling the UAE’s agentic AI economy.”

Cryptopolitan’s alternative write-up adds a market-leaning claim that “Already, research has indicated that the agentic AI market will grow from $5.25 billion to nearly $200 billion between 2024 and 2034,” and it repeats the Dawalibi and Asadian quotes while adding that “Banks regulators, investors, and AI agents can confirm the authenticity of registration in seconds.”