Yesterday Dubai’s DIFC Innovation Hub unveiled a new initiative involving Euroclear and Swiss private bank Julius Baer. The aim is to explore digital asset estate planning. Given many digital assets are bearer instruments, if someone passes away, access to the keys to unlock their tokenized assets could be a challenging issue.
“By validating and unlocking the benefits of smart contracts we have the potential to redefine the narrative of wealth management, creating solutions that could span generations,” said Philippe Laurensy, Head of Group Strategy, Product Management and Innovation at Euroclear.
Passing along keys and related issues are just some of what the group plans to explore. For example, many people might fail to include digital assets in their will. During the next decade, $1 trillion in assets are expected to pass to the next generation in the Middle East. Apparently, less than a quarter of high net worth individuals have a full estate plan in place.
“The region is witnessing a trend of generational wealth being deployed across a variety of digital asset classes to diversify and future-proof their portfolios,” said Mohammad Alblooshi, CEO of DIFC Innovation Hub, “This newly launched innovation project will help transform one of the largest, underserved markets in the region and open doors to a more inclusive and tech-enabled future for family businesses and the wealth management industry.”
Given Julius Baer is a major wealth manager and has had a presence in Dubai for more than 20 years, it is the one that will bring the experience in inheritance planning.
The project will produce a white paper with the aim of helping other jurisdictions as well. Meanwhile, there are solutions on the market. For example, in Singapore DBS Bank created a DBS Trustee solution to deal with certain types of digital assets.
Both Julius Baer and Euroclear are no strangers to blockchain and digital assets. The Swiss private bank was one of the first to offer digital assets to clients back in 2019. Meanwhile, Euroclear recently launched its Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI).
