ZIGChain summit in Dubai advances onchain finance

ZIGChain held its second annual summit on April 28 at The Meydan Hotel in Dubai, convening institutions, protocol developers and regulators to discuss moving regulated investment products onchain.

Organized with Disrupt and framed by the theme “Nothing Compounds Alone,” the one-day event included an eight-session program covering infrastructure, the UAE regulatory environment, startup formation, fintech integration, tokenization and capital markets. Sessions emphasized steps needed to take projects from pilots and proofs of concept to live, regulated products.

Attendees included capital allocators, protocol builders and compliance officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council and international markets. Panel discussions referenced the UAE’s layered regulatory framework — the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) — as context for compliance and product launch planning.

Several partnership and product announcements were presented during the summit. ZIGChain disclosed a strategic collaboration with Beehive to explore tokenizing private credit in the UAE. Valdora Finance, a non-custodial liquid staking protocol, launched on ZIGChain and introduced Liquid RWA Vaults to provide composable access to real-world asset yield strategies for institutional participants. Organizers said additional partnership and product updates were revealed across the program.

Speakers and panelists included Dr. Saeeda Jaffar of Circle, Jez Mohideen of Laser Digital, Dino Ibric of Swissquote MEA, Christiane El Habre of Apex Group, Ramana Kumar of ADI, Faisal Al Hammadi of Further Ventures and Peter Tavener of Beehive. Many attendees represented firms that are deploying capital into onchain infrastructure, building protocols or shaping regulatory frameworks for digital asset products.

Abdul Rafay Gadit, co-founder of ZIGChain, described the summit as demonstration of coordinated activity across partners, infrastructure and capital: “What we showcased across these sessions and announcements is a compounding ecosystem where each participant contributes to delivering regulated products onchain.”

ZIGChain is a Layer 1 blockchain designed to support regulated, institutional-grade investment products onchain. The network includes architecture intended to meet regulatory requirements and supports cross-chain interoperability to connect with other blockchains and services.

Panels addressed operational readiness topics such as custody and asset servicing, cross-jurisdictional regulatory compliance, tokenization standards for private credit and integrating onchain yield strategies with traditional asset management workflows. Several discussions focused on the practical steps needed to attract institutional capital to live onchain products.

Organizers said recordings of the main-stage sessions are available for review.