Dubai Launches Its Own, Official Cryptocurrency emCash 🇦🇪 Aims ...

Dubai is one of the most futuristic cities of the world.

From a village in the desert, Dubai has become a metropolis, a global phenomenon that attracts tourists and business partners from all over the world.
It has also become a hub for the latest state-of-the-art technology, whether that's with flying taxis, the hyperloop train, robot policemen - or cryptocurrency.
While several other countries have talked about creating their own digital currencies lately, Dubai is one of the first to actually make this a reality.

Dubai has just announced the launch of their own digital currency, EmCash !

Founded on the latest block chain technology, emCash will be the digital currency in emPay wallet, launched by Emcredit to support contactless payments. emPay allows UAE residents to make varied payments, from their daily coffee and children's school fee to utility charges and money transfers, through the near field communication (NFC) option in their phones. With emCash, emPay users will have the option of a secure digital currency, and merchants receive such payments in real time without going through intermediaries.
-Dubai City Press Statement

emCash - National Digital Currency

The government of Dubai teamed up with the city's Accelerator Initiative to create the new “encrypted digital currency” emCash with its own blockchain.
The project emCash works as part of the payment system emWallet and has been announced in a press release. It enables its users to handle different types of transactions in digital form, from “their daily coffee and children’s school fee to utility charges and money transfers” with NFC-supported smartphones.
Additionally, the city makes use of blockchain technology in different other projects through the shared platform "Blockchain as a Service".

"A digital currency has varied advantages – faster processing, improved delivery time, less complexity and cost, to name a few. It will change the way people live and do business in Dubai, and mark a giant leap for the city in harnessing game-changing innovations to improve ease of business and quality of life. We are delighted to have Object Tech as our partner in this initiative and the Dubai Economy Accelerators programme. Obtaining approvals from other UAE authorities will be taken into consideration if required"
-Ali Ibrahim, Deputy Director General of Dubai Economy

How does emCash work?

Citizens of the UAE will be able to access the emWallet app on their smartphone.
When making payments, users will be able to choose between two payment options, regular dirham payment or emCash digital currency. While the dirham payment goes through the normal settlement process and cost, emCash payments are sent and received in real-time. Also, merchants save the fee they'd have to pay the intermediary.
Lastly, paying digitally with emCash also reduces fraud and inflations, since currency is being issued based on actual demand and in real time.
The blockchain of emCash allows for shared ledgers - so that "control over payments is not limited to any single member in the emPay ecosystem and transactions are recorded instantaneously."

Dubai - A future Blockchain Metropolis

Dubai is already dubbed the "city of the future" and even wants to become world's first economy that is built / functions on a blockchain. Its government has realized the enormous potential of digital currencies and blockchain technology - especially the "Smart Dubai", the government office that manages encouragement of new innovation in the country. They will host government and private organization workshops to find more services that could be enhanced through Blockchain technology. After that, the according pilot projects should go live in both the public- and private sectors this year. One initiative that has already been started is the development of a citywide blockchain payment system, where the 38 cooperating partner government entities, financial institutions and other city departments connect over *one* blockchain payments platform. Another example for a project that's already in the works, is to transfer all government documents onto a blockchain by 2020.