The Middle East is taking to cryptocurrency fast. A royal family in Saudi Arabia just partnered with a crypto firm, and now the Ministry of Economics in UAE is opening its headquarters in the Metaverse.
At the Dubai Metaverse Assembly, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, the Economy minister, said that this decision is accurate and not merely a proof of concept. This was Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri’s third address. The Ministry of Economics has two offices in the United Arab Emirates. One is in Dubai, and the other one is in Abu Dhabi. The metaverse office will be its third office.
The virtual assembly managed to lure over 20,000 people on the first day. Attendees were given a live tour of the Dubai Metaverse Assembly. Anyone in the world can attend the assembly.
The headquarters is a multi-story building with visitors required to show tickets before entry. Each floor serves a different purpose. The avatar representing the ministry in the Metaverse, Khalifa Al Jaziri, said that communication in the Metaverse would be through voice prompting since the set-up is 3D.
Reasons for the UAE Creating Headquarters in the Metaverse
The Ministry of Economics in the UAE decided to create its headquarters in the Metaverse to eliminate the need to go physically to the office. The Metaverse is offering all office services, for example, legally binding documents. You can even sign these documents in the Metaverse.
According to Jaziri,
“So, anyone worldwide who has a transaction with the ministry no longer has to come to the UAE to sign an agreement.”
UAE’s latest move is surprising. No one expected the UAE to pull off a Metaverse. The UAE is a step ahead of Facebook Meta. As several countries explore the prospects of the Metaverse, the UAE is already ten steps ahead.
Did Facebook Meta Collapse?
Cryptocurrency rumors this year have been that Facebook failed in creating the Metaverse. Some companies say they did more with less cash than Meta did with millions. Facebook has been quiet on its Meta project. Any advancements are impossible to predict. It is only best to sit and wait.
Eighteen hours ago, there have been other rumors that Meta is laying off staff. The company is planning to freeze its assets and re-strategize. The words say that Mark Zuckerberg blamed the economy. During a weekly question and answer session with his employees, Mark Zuckerberg said,
“I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now, but from what we’re seeing, it doesn’t yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively.”
According to a report from June, Reuters says that Meta plans to reduce its engineering staff by 30%. The company agreed to hire freezes in May, but it is unclear on the exact figures. The statement made recently affirms the one made in June,
“We plan to reduce headcount growth over the next year steadily. Many teams will shrink so we can shift energy to other areas. I wanted to give our leaders the ability to decide where to double down, where to backfill attrition, and where to restructure teams while minimizing thrash to the long-term initiatives.”
The tech industry has been suffering, and no doubt giants like Meta are now responding to inflation. Even tech giants like Google and Apple are beginning a slow hiring process. Apple said it would embrace the slow hiring process by 2023. Google, however, announced a hiring freeze on 20 July 2022.
