Dubai has spent the past few years selling a simple idea – the next wave of global technology will be built in places that can move quickly, write clear rules and turn pilots into policy.
That proposition sat at the heart of the recent Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Conference (AIBC) Eurasia press conference at Dubai Festival City’s Festival Arena.
Organisers unveiled a tighter international calendar designed to keep the conversation moving. AIBC Asia is next on the agenda in June, followed by AIBC World in November.
In the short-term, Dubai wants to set the template for how AI, blockchain and digital finance are governed, then export that template through a circuit that now ends in Rome.
The Dubai Pitch: Build the Rails, Then Invite the World
One keynote in Dubai distilled why the city thinks it can play that role.
Dr Marwan Alzarouni of the Dubai Blockchain Centre framed AI and blockchain as complementary tools, then pointed to Dubai’s long-running push on digital government as the practical advantage that turns big ideas into day-to-day services.
His argument was not that Dubai is the only place innovating. It was that the city has already laid the rails – identity, mobile-first public services and a policy culture that prefers controlled experimentation to endless debate.
That distinction matters because the next step for blockchain and AI is not another white paper. It is proving that the technology can support compliance, reduce friction in payments and stand up to scrutiny when real money, real customers and real reputational risk are on the line.
Stablecoins: The Link Between Innovation and Regulation
A panel on stablecoins offered the most grounded example of how this becomes policy.
Speakers including Carter Capital’s Gustavo Montero, CoinMENA’s Talal Tabba and legal founder Kokila Alagh talked about stablecoins less as speculation and more as a plumbing upgrade for trade, payments and corporate ecosystems.
They also underlined that regulation is becoming more precise, not less, with Alagh pointing to Europe’s MiCA framework and its terminology shift away from the casual ‘stablecoin’ label towards regulated categories such as asset-referenced tokens.
Europe is writing detailed rulebooks, then founders and operators look for jurisdictions that can match the clarity without the fragmentation.
Dubai is betting that it can do exactly that, which is why stablecoin conversations in a conference hall matter to sectors far outside pure finance.
Where Gaming and Casinos Enter the Conversation
Dubai’s casino story is still defined by restriction and careful signalling, particularly online, but the direction of travel in the wider UAE entertainment economy has made ‘regulated gaming’ a serious topic.
The practical question is what a licensed market would look like in a city that is building itself as a trusted global hub.
This is where AIBC’s agenda becomes relevant, because the same tools being discussed for payments and compliance can shape how a casino industry is supervised when the rules evolve.
For instance, stablecoins sit at the intersection of customer convenience and regulatory oversight, especially if redemption, auditing and anti-money laundering controls are designed into the system rather than bolted on later.
Blockchain-based records also lend themselves to provable processes, which is exactly what gaming regulators need if to boost investor confidence and establish clear consumer protection standards.
Many Arab players already visit real money casinos in Dubai, but do so in the knowledge that those platforms operate under licenses issued in other jurisdictions.
Future developments in the sector will be informed by conversations at AIBC events, highlighting the role those play in shaping lucrative industries.
West to East, with Europe in the Middle
The ‘centre of power’ debate ran through the Dubai coverage, but it was not framed as the West losing relevance.
It was framed as execution moving faster in the East, with the Gulf offering a mix of capital, infrastructure and a willingness to run policy sandboxes that can be hard to replicate in more complex jurisdictions.
Europe appears in this story in two ways. It remains a source of regulatory thinking that other regions respond to, as shown by MiCA’s influence on how industry participants talk about stablecoins and consumer safeguards.
The calendar is also a signal, because the flagship AIBC World event is set for Rome in November 2026, an explicit choice to make Europe a core stage for the same conversations that Dubai wants to lead.
If Dubai is building a ‘blueprint’, Rome is positioned as the place where that gets stress-tested in front of European policymakers, legacy finance and a different set of public expectations.
