The First Blockchain Roadshow in Saudi Arabia

Ateon is moving aggressively to speedup adoption of Blockchain in the region.

“Muslims account for 25% of the world population and the unbanked account for 2 billion, according to the World Bank. Ateon aims to pave the way for an open market, where transparency leads to greater justice, where people are empowered by their own social capital to support and contribute to the things that matter to them.” said Dr. Husam Yaghi.

In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 to diversify its economy and to move into the digital world, Ateon, a member of Alhamrani Group of Companies in Saudi Arabia, and a registered company in Dubai, ran a week long Blockchain roadshow 10^th – 13^th December 2017 in Riyadh and Jeddah with plans for more to follow. The roadshow was an invite-only event and was attended by over 60 senior executives from the financial sector, insurance, government, and the private sector.

Technical presentations were made by recognized blockchain experts from Ateon’s partners; SettleMint, a Belgium-based software company with rich experience in developing blockchain applications for financial institutions, and Sofitto, a Belgium-based leader in blockchain last-mile payment space, and Shocard, a US-based blockchain identity management solutions leader. Reham Baseddiq, Ateon’s Marketing Manager, stated that the group of blockchain companies has ambitious plans to expedite the adoption of Blockchain in Saudi Arabia and the region.

The three parties amazed the crowd with the insightful information they shared. Dr. Husam Yaghi, a retired technology veteran and advisor at Ateon, claimed to the audience in his opening speech: “It is you, who will help realize the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. You are the leaders of change.”

The Founder & CEO of Sofitto, Dr. Alexander Vasylchenko, presented his first-in-the-world solution to the last mile problem in the payment space using Sofitto’s card scheme on blockchain rails. It solves the problem of digital currency use for the average citizen who does not understand private keys and digital wallets.

While the Founder & CEO of SettleMint, Matthew Van Niekerk, gave a simplified overview of Blockchain and presented SettleMint’s solutions; which included their flagship middleware to speed up the development of Blockchain applications and their recently ICO’ed DataBroker Marketplace.

The Founder & CEO of Shocard, Dr. Armin Ebrahimi, delivered a prerecorded message expressing his regrets for not making it to the event due to delayed issuance of the visa.

Ateon claims to be the first Blockchain systems integrator in Saudi Arabia and among the first in the region. They have been exhibiting at numerous Blockchain events in the region including London and Dubai. Their recent project with SettleMint for the Islamic Development Bank, to develop Blockchain-based products for financial inclusion, was featured in New York Times, Reuters, Nasdaq, and Islamic Finance News. Quietly, they are building Blockchain-based systems for loyalty, land registry, patient records management, student records management, KYC-as-a-Service, VAT, Zakah, and payments settlement. It is evident that Ateon aims to be recognized as the region’s primary Blockchain systems integrator.