International Holding Company (ICH), an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm with a market capitalization of $240 billion, is backing a new blockchain that will serve as the base layer for a dirham-pegged stablecoin and state-linked digital projects.
The ADI Foundation — created by an ICH subsidiary — announced the upcoming launch of ADI Chain, a Layer 2 chain on Ethereum, during Token2049 in Singapore today, Oct. 1.
According to a press release shared with The Defiant, ADI Chain is the first public blockchain to integrate ZKsync’s Airbender, a zero-knowledge system designed to deliver sub-second block proofs.
With its mainnet launch planned for Q4 of this year, the chain is being positioned as infrastructure for payments, tokenized assets, digital identity, land registries and healthcare records.
The chain is also set to provide rails for an AED-pegged stablecoin, developed by First Abu Dhabi Bank, state fund ADQ, and IHC, with oversight from the UAE Central Bank.
Chain for Institutions
As Alex Gluchowski, founder of ZKsync and CEO of Matter Labs, explained in the press release, most blockchains “are not equipped to meet the varying compliance standards required by global institutions and governments.”
However, ADI has the “scale to reach these stakeholders and upgrade their legacy systems in a manner that should be transformative for their private and public sectors,” Gluchowski added,
According to the release, ADI Chain already has about 50 projects lined up across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with IHC-linked firms expected to bring users onto the network once it goes live.
ADI Chain won’t be the only regulated network in the region to offer stablecoins. In April, USDC issuer Circle also received in-principle approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority to operate as a money services provider in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, last year, Tether announced plans to launch an AED-pegged stablecoin, but the project is evidently still awaiting approval.
In March of this year, investment firm MGX invested $2 billion into Binance using USD1, a stablecoin developed by the Trump family’s DeFi firm, World Liberty Financial.