DUBAI: The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts have launched a new suite of digital public services, including the Digital Assets Will, unveiled at GITEX Global 2024.
The Digital Assets Will allows individuals to distribute their digital assets using a non-custodial DIFC Courts wallet. This wallet gives individuals full control over their assets during their lifetime and allows them to allocate assets to beneficiaries as ‘specific gifts’.
Digital assets supported by the wallet include ETH, BTC, MATIC, USDC, USDT, and HBAR. Future updates will support NFT standards ERC 721, ERC 115, Ordinals, and Hedera Token Service (HTS).
This new Will template joins existing DIFC Courts Will types, such as the Full Will, Property Will, Financial Assets Will, Business Owners Will, and Guardianship Will.
The DIFC Courts also offer an online automated Will drafting service and a Virtual Registry, allowing individuals globally to create and register a DIFC Courts Will. Investors and residents can access it fr
om anywhere in the world via video link to a compliance officer in Dubai.
Wills can also be added to the global digital vault, tejouri. Launched in 2022, tejouri functions as a cloud vault and online safe for data, supported by DIFC’s data centres. Access to data is restricted to the vault holder and intended recipients, with advanced privacy and security protocols in place.
The new suite of services also includes the Notary Service, the first in the UAE to notarise English documents. It offers three options: automated self-service, live virtual, and in-person. Notarised documents will be verified using cryptographic methods and recorded on the Hedera Blockchain for integrity and privacy.
Additionally, the DIFC Courts have introduced a Mediation Service Centre, providing parties with the option to resolve disputes with registered mediators online or in-person at the DIFC Courts premises.
Justice Omar Al Mheiri, Director, DIFC Courts, said, ‘In our digitally driven societies, individuals and businesses are
increasingly seeking accessible public services. These new digital services, supported by the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 and Dubai Digital Strategy, break down barriers to justice and simplify processes for both administrative tasks and complex dispute resolutions.”
The launch of these services was supported by The Hashgraph Association, Hedera, Deca4 Advisory, and DataFlow Group.
Source: Emirates News Agency