Yesterday, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) joined the blockchain-based Dubai Unified Business Registry to obtain data on institutions listed in the region. The company registration and licensing solution were launched last year by Dubai Economy to enhance transparency and business regulation.

DEWA is one of the first government organizations to join the blockchain network. It can see commercial licenses of possible associates and real-time information on business registration. Utilizing the solution, DEWA would be capable of automating internal operations like bills and contracts, as well as developing consumer satisfaction. In turn, this will decrease the dependence on paper-based transactions and enhance efficiency.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, said in a statement that the initiative is part of the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021, which strives to improve government efficiency by converting 50 percent of federal government transactions utilizing blockchain by 2021. The final plan is to have a paperless government by the end of 2021.

State-owned DEWA is a public service infrastructure company and offers water and electricity to over 700,000 consumers.

“We welcome DEWA to the Unified Business Registry, an achievement we are proud of as it is a unique and global storehouse of commercial licenses and is instrumental in retrieving real-time business license registration data to make Dubai the first government fully powered by blockchain in 2020,” said Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of Dubai Economy, in a statement.

Dubai has created various blockchain projects. A few months ago, Dubai Economy launched a blockchain consortium for yielding verified know your customer (KYC) company data. Other projects involve a blockchain mortgage platform, a trade finance solution, and a government platform with IBM.

Meantime, Argentina also has a company registration platform that was taken offline currently, and China has run pilots in the past.