Q1 2019 was focused on building out products, acquiring users to existing releases and obtaining the necessary regulatory clearances, licenses and authorizations to launch additional tokenized assets.
1. Asset Tokenization
Putting Traditional Assets on Ethereum
Jibrel’s core mandate is to provide traditional financial assets, such as currencies, commodities and debt instruments, as ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. This section of the update focuses on the progress made against Jibrel’s core mandate.
Fiat Currencies
The first step to transacting on-chain is developing fully compliant stable coins that users can transact with. Jibrel completed this step with Jcash.
You can learn more about Jcash by visiting https://jcash.network/
Debt Instruments
Jibrel’s first major successful pilot was assisting Al Hilal Bank in settling and clearing the first Smart Sukuk on Ethereum. The project was undertaken under the supervision of Abu Dhabi Global Market.
You can learn more about the Al Hilal Bank initiative here.
Jibrel’s next step is to launch a fully on-chain debt instrument, alongside a leading financial institution. Jibrel has adjusted the details of its DFSA Innovation Testing License to allow for this. In addition, Jibrel is part of ADGM’s RegLab and the Securities & Commodities Authority Fintech Lab. This allows Jibrel to test and launch tokenized debt instruments across the UAE.
Real Estate
As part of its Real Estate tokenization initiative, Jibrel needed to work with a property developer to provide the underlying assets for tokenization. In this instance, tokenization refers to tracking property titles / ownership, using distributed ledgers, as well as offering those real estate assets to customers on-chain.
As part of this initiative, Jibrel has become an approved Emaar Properties Broker (Approval: SR#22100), allowing Jibrel to sell Emaar owned properties on-chain.
In addition to becoming an approved broker, Jibrel is able to facilitate the purchase of Emaar properties using digital assets (BTC, ETH, JNT).
Once investors are on-boarded to the Jibrel platform, they will be able to select from a portfolio of properties, complete a purchase using BTC, ETH or JNT and receive confirmation that the title has been transferred to their name.
After a purchase is complete, Jibrel will undertake all the necessary off-chain work to ensure that property ownership is transferred to the purchaser and the title is transferred to his or her name.
While the process of title ownership transfer is still hampered by off-chain regulatory limitations, this is a welcome first step towards proper real estate tokenization.
Commodities
Commodities tracked on distributed ledgers offer numerous use-cases. Today, the bulk of Islamic Finance Tawarruq and Commodity Murabaha transactions rely on external commodity exchanges, agents and intermediaries. As a result, Islamic Finance has lagged behind conventional finance with regards to speed and scalability. Ironically, this can be solved using digital assets, which have speed and scalability issues themselves. Even so, a transition to distributed ledgers provides significant time and cost efficiencies.
Jibrel has defined a compliant workflow for commodity tokenization. This process is outlined below.
A. User On-boarding
- Account creation and on-boarding
- Full KYC / AML (Corporates)
(a) Business License (b) Proof of ownership (share registry or memorandum / articles of association) (c) Proof of address (tenancy contract or latest copy of utility bill) (d) Passport copy of beneficial owner and authorized signatories
(e) Bank account details (welcome letter or similar documentation)
(f) Tax registration document (g) Form K (h) Custodianship details including jurisdiction etc. (i) Reading Room documents (Purchase agreement, custody agreement)
B. Tokenization Request
- Commodity selection and parameter definition
- Tokenization Submission
C. On-chain Issuance
- Commodity tokens are minted once: (a) an issuer has been verified (b) the issuance request is approved (c) reading room material has been submitted and verified to be complete
- Digital representations (ERC-20 tokens) are then generated, cumulatively representing the total value of commodities held in custody
With the process defined and the technical architecture available, Jibrel has sourced partners for the first tokenization of commodities which will be made publicly available. Jibrel is starting with Gold and will provide JGLD on-chain, before moving onto other commodities, such as other precious metals and base metals.
2. Technical Development
Product Development
In Q1 2019, the Jibrel team shipped several Jwallet releases across Android, iOS and Web.
Jwallet
Jibrel Wallet: ERC-20 Token Wallet
Jibrel addressed bugs and implemented minor updates and improvements across iOS and Android apps. In addition, in February, the team released the Jwallet Web, a simple and easy to use web-wallet for Ether and all ERC-20 tokens.
Jsearch
Jibrel Search: Ethereum Block Explorer
Jibrel Search is the network’s Ethereum block explorer. To provide high quality products and services, an advanced block explorer is required. Jibrel is expected to complete the build-out of health-checks, fork management and contingency steps to ensure enterprise-grade uptime in Q2 2019. We will begin offering Jibrel Search to crypto-startups by Q3 2019. In addition, Jibrel expects to launch the B2C Jibrel Search service in Q3 2019 as well. Jibrel will incorporate JNT incentives across B2B and B2C offerings.
3. Organizational Build-out
Non-technical Dimensions
Jibrel’s organizational development has focused on designing and implementing the necessary processes to coordinate efforts between geographies and stakeholders. Primarily, Jibrel needs to improve its implementation of user feature requests. Currently, Jibrel periodically pushes out releases every 2 to 4 weeks (depending on product), with ad-hoc releases being pushed out only if security related.
Going forward, Jibrel will implement channels and tools for user requests to be submitted and implemented at a much faster pace.
A. People & Capabilities
Organization, Manpower & Talent
Over Q1, Jibrel grew its DevOps, Operations and Design teams. Going forward Jibrel will primarily focus on expanding its marketing team to match its development progress and pace. In addition, further legal and compliance manpower will be required as Jibrel begins to introduce additional services.
B. Marketing, PR & Community Management
Outward Facing Deliverables & Work
As part of increasing its brand presence, Jibrel has been active at Blockchain, Fintech and Finance events.
Over the quarter, Jibrel attended and participated in the following events:
- M-1: Melonport in Zug,
- Bonds, Loans and Sukuk Global Conference,
- Encrypted Podcast at Dubai Future Accelerators,
- Future Blockchain Summit — sponsored by Smart Dubai
- Accenture Ventures MET
- MIT SciTech (scheduled)
Going forward, Jibrel will expand its digital marketing and traditional marketing efforts, with a concentration on user acquisition.
More information on Jibrel’s overall strategy can be found in the February update.
Jibrel provides traditional financial assets such as currencies, commodities and equities, as standard ERC-20 tokens, on the Ethereum blockchain.
