Innovation City, a Ras Al Khaimah-based free zone focused on artificial intelligence and Web3, has launched what it claims to be the first blockchain-based digital business identity system.
According to a Monday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, each company registered with Innovation City receives a sovereign, cryptographically verifiable identity issued on OPN Chain, a public blockchain infrastructure developed by the United Arab Emirates-based IOPn.
The release said this transforms a business license from a inert PDF file or database entry into a vigorous onchain resource, designed to reduce reliance on centralized intermediaries and reduce verification uncertainty.
The move reflects a broader perspective press in the United Arab Emirates to replace established business registries with blockchain-based identity systems and artificial intelligence workflows, which advocates say could streamline verification and enable more seamless digital operations. By embedding onchain identity directly into company registration, Innovation City is testing a model that goes beyond most existing digital identification frameworks, but its impact will depend on whether external institutions adopt it.
How onchain business IDs work
Jimi Ibrahim, co-founder and chief operating officer of IOPn, told Cointelegraph that at launch, the onchain identity platform is expected to cover Innovation City’s existing customer base of over 1,000 companies and immediately operate in the free zone’s digital ecosystem.
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He said the core value is not simply issuing a digital certificate, but providing each company with a cryptographically verifiable business identity that can be used for access and verification across Innovation City touchpoints such as the business hub and selected ecosystem services, expanding over time to partners such as technology, marketing and legal services providers.
Ibrahim described OPN Chain as a public network where validator participation is open to institutions, infrastructure partners and node operators approved by the board. He said the network uses a hybrid data model that stores core transaction data and evidence on-chain while handling sensitive or huge data off-chain.
He argued that this setup differs from existing digital identity systems or verifiable authentication systems such as Estonia’s e-residency program because onchain identity is established as a native primitive means of business registration for all companies in the free zone, rather than as an optional overlay on a conventional registry.
However, it did not name specific banks, regulators or exchanges that currently accept or verify these identities in the supply chain, leaving questions about third-party integrations, dispute resolution and how quickly credentials can be corrected or revoked if third parties are involved.
AI security and geopolitical threats
Last uses in which AI agents were socially designed to authorize cryptocurrency transfers from wallets they controlled, showed how autonomous systems could be manipulated, raising questions about the resilience of such AI-based workflows.
Ibrahim said that any agent workflow built on these identities will require “human authorization in the loop for the resulting actions” and that the agent layer was designed with adversarial scenarios in mind as a “first principle, not an afterthought.”
The premiere also takes place in the context of regional conflict and Monday’s fresh attacks involving the United Arab Emirates. Latest eToro data cited by Cointelegraph showed that UAE investors were increasing positions in artificial intelligence infrastructure, software and cryptocurrency-related assets during the conflict, rather than reducing exposure, despite increased volatility. Deutsche Bank report from April 13 he said that conflict will exacerbate rather than derail demand for AI.
Why is the Gulf so well-suited for artificial intelligence? Source: Deutsche Bank
Ibrahim called the UAE one of the most “institutionally stable jurisdictions” and said OPN Chain’s distributed network of validators means that no single regional event causes a failure of the identity infrastructure these companies rely on.
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