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Step Conference 2022 Celebrates Cutting-Edge Technologies

Step is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with the Step Conference 2022 edition back in-person.

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step conference 2022 celebrates cutting-edge technologies

Our increasingly digital lives are shaped by cutting-edge technologies that enable information to be exchanged faster and more easily than ever before. From February 23 to February 24, Step Conference 2022 will celebrate artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, fintech, Web3, cloud technology, healthcare technology, and other building blocks of the modern world.

10th Anniversary Of Step Conference

This year’s conference is extra special because it marks the 10th anniversary of the event, which started as a series of workshops and small gatherings in 2011.

Since its humble beginnings, Step Conference has grown to become a comprehensive conference ecosystem that brings top tech experts to Dubai to share their insights with large audiences, exchange expertise, and drive innovation.

Step Conference is organized by new media company Step. During the past decade, Step has hosted more than 200 events and programs, with participation from more than 2,000 startups from MENA and other regions.

Step’s investor meeting and mentorship programs have helped facilitate over 10,000 connections, many of which have resulted in fruitful partnerships.

Step Conference 2022 is happening alongside Expo 2020 in the heart of Dubai Internet City. “Our partnership with Dubai Internet City has been impactful in engaging and supporting entrepreneurs in the region” said Ray Dargham, CEO of Step.

What You Can Look Forward To At Step Conference 2022

The 10th iteration of Step Conference will be full of interesting events to attend. The topics they will explore include:

NFTs: Non-fungible tokens, which are cryptographic proofs of ownership stored on a blockchain, have profoundly transformed the art industry, and they continue to disrupt how assets (mainly digital but also physical) are owned. From Coinbase to Meta to Ubisoft, established companies are joining the NFT revolution and exploring a broad range of potential use cases.

Web3: Thanks to the decentralized infrastructure provided by Blockchain technology, the World Wide Web is now evolving to give its users the ability to actually own and control the data they generate, among other things. While still in its early stages, Web3 is likely to have just as profound impact on society as user-generated content enabled by Web 2.0 has had.

Metaverse: Virtual reality has matured to such an extent that it can now be used to overcome the limitations of remote working, provide more memorable and immersive education, deliver healthcare services to people in remote areas, and more. What is emerging is an interconnected network of virtual reality worlds, and this network is referred to as the metaverse.

Discussing these and other hot topics will be Elie Habib, the founder of the Middle East’s leading music streaming service Anghami; Michelle Arrazcaeta, head of Brand Strategy & Collaborations at Polaroid; Paul Misener, the Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communication at Amazon; Sidra Qasim, co-founder of Brooklyn-based shoe brand Atoms; and others.

“We hope to welcome international delegations to the conference, expanding the potential for partnerships and investment on a larger scale than ever before” said Ammar Al Malik, Managing Director of Dubai Internet City.

How To Attend Step Conference 2022

If you would like to attend Step Conference 2022 yourself, you can purchase tickets from the Step website. Early discounts are no longer available, but regular tickets can be purchased until February 13.

Tickets are divided into three main Tracks (Fintech, Future, and Digital) based on covered topics. The Fintech Track revolves around the latest in financial technology, blockchain, and digital currencies. The Future Track is all about automation, smart cities, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. The Digital Track covers everything from digital marketing to advertising technology.

You can also purchase a Master Pass to access all main tracks plus workshops, satellite events, entertainment venues, and more.

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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

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visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.

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