Author: Emirates Insight

The crypto market went through another minor roller-coaster. It almost feels like a deja vu in the past few weeks, and it happened again on Monday morning as BTC pumped to just over $90,000, only to be rejected violently there and drive immediately south to its starting position. Most larger-cap altcoins followed suit, with ETH going above and below $3,000 in the span of hours. BTC Stopped (Yet Again) The chart below will clearly demonstrate BTC’s inability to break through the $90,000 resistance despite several attempts in the past few weeks. In fact, it has been rejected at least…

Pay10 and Commercial Bank of Dubai has announced the successful go-live of Open Finance services under the UAE’s Open Finance Initiative, AlTareq, marking a significant advancement in the country’s transition toward regulated, customer-centric digital financial services. As part of this milestone, CBD in collaboration with Pay10 has enabled its retail current and savings accounts to connect through the UAE’s Open Finance framework, allowing customers to securely share data and initiate payments in line with Central Bank of the UAE regulations. This activation represents one of the first large-scale retail implementations of Open Finance capabilities in the country, moving beyond controlled…

The United Arab Emirates solidified its position as a global hub for advanced technology and space sciences in 2025, completing a series of strategic milestones aimed at transitioning toward an innovation-driven knowledge economy. Throughout the year, the country expanded its orbital infrastructure and international partnerships, significantly accelerating its lunar and Earth observation capabilities. The UAE’s orbital expansion was marked by the deployment of several key assets, including the Thuraya-4, MBZ-SAT, Al Ain Sat-1, HCT-SAT1, and the Foresight Constellation. The launch of Etihad-SAT established the nation’s first domestic radar satellite capability, while the PHI-1 mission marked the first modular satellite platform…

Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and of them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. But the remaining 180 startups all blew us away as well in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition. Here is the full list of the health and wellness Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.  Akara   What it does: Uses AI…

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attended the 16th BEYOND Developments GLOBE SOCCER Awards held on Sunday evening in Dubai. During a glittering ceremony at the Atlantis The Royal hotel, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) forward Ousmane Dembélé was crowned Best Men’s Player for the first time and FC Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí Bonmatí made history by being named Best Women’s Player for a third consecutive year. Attended by world football’s most celebrated players, decision-makers, legends, and rising stars, the 2025 edition of the GLOBE SOCCER Awards saw more than 20 awards being presented. French giants PSG,…

The UAE has strengthened its economic footprint in Latin America through a series of comprehensive partnership agreements aimed at diversifying trade flows and expanding investment across emerging markets in the region. “The entry into force of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Chile represents a qualitative leap in economic relations between the two countries,” said Karla Flores, Director of InvestChile. Among the most significant developments is the CEPA with Costa Rica, which came into effect on 1st April 2025. The agreement eliminates or reduces customs duties, facilitates trade in goods and services and opens broader investment opportunities…

A widening gap between VC pricing and public market caps signals a reset after narrative-driven optimism cooled. Crypto venture capital firms poured billions into early-stage tokens during 2025’s risk-on rebound, but many of those bets are now trading far below their headline fundraising values. The growing gap between private funding numbers and public market caps highlights a market reset after narrative-driven optimism cooled. Data recently shared by CryptoRank shows dozens of well-funded projects losing hundreds of millions, and in some cases nearly all, of their implied value once tokens reached open markets, raising fresh questions about pricing discipline during…

The mania around data centers has a lot of companies looking to become “picks and shovels” providers, by building profitable businesses that are ancillary to the gold rush gigs of selling server access or training leading AI models. MayimFlow, the Built World stage winner at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt, is a good example. The startup is focused on essentially one task: preventing damaging water leaks. Data centers use a lot of water, and that water can present a big risk, even if a leak is small. Founder John Khazraee told TechCrunch that many data centers only have reactive solutions for…

The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has intercepted nearly 1,000 smuggling attempts across the kingdom’s land, air and sea ports in a seven-day period, highlighting the scale of illegal trade targeting Saudi Arabia. The authority announced that customs operations recorded 961 seizures of prohibited items in a single week, with narcotics accounting for 91 cases involving hashish, cocaine, heroin, shabu and Captagon pills. #ارقد_وآمن | #زاتكا خلال أسبوع تضبط عبر منافذها الجمركية 961 حالة تهريب، شملت مواد مخدرة ومبالغ مالية ومواد محظورة وأسلحة ومستلزماتها، وغيرها من المضبوطات. pic.twitter.com/oTFMG3v2co— هيئة الزكاة والضريبة والجمارك (@Zatca_sa) December 27, 2025 Officials also intercepted…

FIL is the next big gainer today. Bitcoin’s sluggish price performance during the last weekend of 2025 continues, as the asset has remained sideways between $87,500 and $88,000. Most altcoins are in a similar situation, with little to no volatility from the larger caps. ZEC, DOT, UNI, CC, and NEAR have marked substantial gains from the mid caps. BTC Trades Sideways After a wild period that lasted for the past 10 days or so, BTC has expectedly calmed down during and after the Christmas holidays. In the past business week, it was rejected on a couple of occasions at…