KSA Based Avrio to tokenize real-estate in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Avrio Blockchain in KSA in partnership with ESPEO is working on real-estate and health care blockchain solutions in the Kingdom
Avrio, the first specialized Blockchain firm to launch in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has recently signed a partnership agreement with ESPEO Blockchain to provide Blockchain solutions within the country. UNLOCK interviewed the Founder & CEO of Avrio, Mr. Ahmed Yassin who spoke about the current blockchain initiatives that the company is working on as well as its partnership with ESPEO blockchain.
According to Yassin who is a Saudi national, born in Lebanon and raised between France, London and Canada, “Myself and Mr. Fhad Al Shesha, co-Founder started Avrio because we believe blockchain as a technology will play an essential role in KSA’s 2030 Vision and digitization strategy. Avrio was registered in KSA as the first blockchain firm in Q1 of 2018 and since then we have been working to increase the understanding of blockchain and the solutions that can be offered.”
Avrio is currently working on Blockchain solutions for the real-estate industry as well as healthcare, and Supply chain. In terms of real-estate Yassin states, “We believe that one of the key benefits of blockchain is in the tokenization of real-estate assets and during our research and legal consultations we were informed that tokenization of real-estate assets in an Islamic compliant way is legal in KSA because the token itself would be backed by a tangible asset, unlike traditional cryptocurrencies which are not.”
Yassin believes this is a big opportunity given the massive property developments being undertaken in different cities across KSA. He says, “We believe that tokenization of real-estate projects will bring in foreign investment and democratize real-estate investment allowing for investors of any size or nationality to be part of real-estate development in KSA.” Yassin believes real-estate tokenization is a very lucrative business with the promise of 8% ROI (return on investment) once the project is completed and then liquidated after the fact.
Avrio is also in talks with the Ministry of Housing to develop a blockchain solution for property and land registry. As Yassin explains, “We are in discussions with the Ministry of Housing in KSA to utilize blockchain to register land and property ownership as well as place sales transactions and rental contracts on the blockchain. This will ease the process of buying and selling and transferring ownership of land and property as well as an efficient renting platform.”
Avrio is also working to place medical records on the Blockchain in KSA. As Yassin states, “We are also in discussions with the Ministry of Health, and hospitals in KSA to implement blockchain platform across the entire health sector in the country to put all healthcare records on the Blockchain. A patient can chose who can see their records so privacy is ensured, yet at the same time by having these records on the Blockchain we can ensure better quality and personalized healthcare, as well as a streamlined and efficient process between hospitals, insurance companies and government entities.
As for their partnership with ESPEO, Yassin explains, “For us to be able to provide a complete blockchain solution in the most professional manner we needed to partner with a strong blockchain solution provider. We found this partner in ESPEO that not only has a strong development team and expertise in security token offering solutions and consultancy but also presence in the region.”
Mickael Costache, Regional Director ME Asia Africa, ESPEO told UNLOCK, “Our partnership with Avrio will expand our blockchain expertise in KSA given their local experience, network and knowledge of the market combined with our blockchain expertise in consulting and development.” Costache believes that the appetite for blockchain implementation is growing in KSA especially in the financial and healthcare sectors. As for their work with Avrio, Costache explains, “We are working with Avrio on two fronts, one is assisting them in the development of their real-estate tokenization offering and secondly is working with them to cater to public and private sector blockchain projects.”
Both Costache and Yassin firmly believe that the leadership in KSA clearly understands the appeal of the blockchain and believe many projects will materialize in the upcoming year.
In the future Yassin hopes to be able to have a full Saudi national employee base with blockchain expertise and coding skills. He explains, “Today the skillset for Blockchain and coding is still lagging in KSA, we are working with Ministry of Education and if all goes as planned, we should have the first graduates within the next two years. Avrio is also collaborating with LISK Academy, a leading Blockchain training institute to provide courses here in KSA.”
