The newly launched IOTA Ecosystem Foundation is committing $10 million to early-stage startups focused on tokenized trading for real-world assets (RWAs).

The specific startups receiving funding will be revealed in the coming weeks, though the initial investment will focus on companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Africa, according to a February 29 press release. They will include newly founded “tradetech ventures,” and accelerator programs for startups building on IOTA.

Empowering Tokenization Startups

“By investing in the future of TradeTech, we are not just facilitating smoother trade transactions; we are laying the groundwork for a more interconnected and efficient global trade ecosystem,” said IOTA Foundation co-founder and chairman Dominik Schiener.

The #IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation just committed $10 million to fuel early-stage startups and ventures in #TradeTech, #TradeFi, & #tokenization. This aims to supercharge #DigitalTrade ecosystems across the Middle East, Africa, Europe & beyond . https://t.co/bgrJ0OTy2s pic.twitter.com/BKktl9goK8

— IOTA (@iota) February 29, 2024

IOTA launched as an open-source digital ledger back in 2016, raising $590,000 in its ICO eight months later. Unlike other crypto networks, it uses a directed acyclic graph (DAG) called the “Tangle” to record transactions, rather than a traditional blockchain.

Expanding Digital Trade in Africa and the UAE

IOTA claims that Africa and the UAE “hold huge potential to spearhead the advancement of digital trade globally.”

Back in November, the IOTA Foundation became a regulated entity in the UAE.

The foundation recently signed a collaboration agreement for the Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP) – a “public good trade infrastructure” developed alongside Trademark Africa. Based on the pipeline’s experience in Kenya, IOTA is convinced that digital payments are a “leapfrog opportunity” in Africa that will witness widespread adoption much like mobile phones.

“Digitizing trade transactions could slash costs by 80%, halve the trade finance gap, reduce cross-border processing times from 25 days to one day, and increase SME efficiency by 35%,” the foundation added.

The price of IOTA rose 9% to $0.29 on Thursday and is now up 15% over the past month. It remains 94% down from its all-time high.

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