News
UAE Will Soon Deploy AI To Prevent Beach Drowning Incidents
The technology will be rolled out across several beaches before the end of this year.
Soon, cameras on UAE beaches will be equipped with a new artificial intelligence-based technology that can help lifeguards monitor swimmers and identify risks.
Blueguard, a Dubai-based water safety and first aid company, is working with a technology provider to equip UAE beaches with artificial intelligence to help lifeguards monitor swimmers and identify risks.
“On a busy day on the beach, there are hundreds of swimmers in the sea and just one or two lifeguards,” explains Luke Cunningham, founder and MD of Blueguard. “This technology can detect how many people are in the water and if any swimmer is in distress. This information is relayed back to the lifeguard”.
Also Read: MIT’s “PhotoGuard” Protects Images From Unauthorized AI Edits
Meanwhile, a wristband is being developed that will function as a beach entrance ticket and locker key. The band will contain a sensor that will raise an alarm if it detects a potential drowning incident.
Cunningham expects the technology to be rolled across several UAE beaches before the end of the year. The news comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) held the first-ever drowning prevention day on July 25th in response to figures showing 236,000 people die from drowning yearly.
News
Dirham-Backed Stablecoin DDSC Enters Live Phase In UAE
Central Bank approval moves the dirham-backed token into deployment, targeting regulated payments and settlement flows.
The UAE has cleared the launch of DDSC, a dirham-backed stablecoin now entering live operation after approval from the Central Bank. The move pushes the project beyond its pilot phase and into the country’s regulated financial system.
The token is backed by a consortium led by IHC, Sirius International Holding and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), framing it as an institutional instrument rather than a consumer crypto product. DDSC was first announced in April 2025, but regulatory clearance now allows deployment and integration across approved channels.
DDSC runs on ADI Chain, a Layer 2 blockchain built by the Abu Dhabi-based ADI Foundation. The infrastructure is designed for governance and performance requirements expected by large institutions, linking blockchain settlement with existing compliance and oversight frameworks.
The focus is practical, targeting treasury settlements, high-value payments, trade and supply-chain transactions, and programmable financial flows for regulated entities. FAB plans to offer access to the token through approved platforms for its clients, keeping the rollout inside controlled banking environments.
“DDSC marks a defining milestone in the UAE’s digital finance journey,” said Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of IHC. “With the Central Bank’s approval and our transition into live operation, we are delivering trusted, institutional-grade infrastructure that strengthens resilience, accelerates innovation, and expands what is possible in regulated digital payments”.
Also Read: Basatne Debuts ORBT Platform For Digital Refunds In UAE
FAB says the project reflects how stablecoins can sit within traditional finance when risk controls are built in from the outset. “This milestone underscores that stablecoins can be integrated responsibly into the financial system when built to meet rigorous regulatory and risk requirements,” said Futoon Hamdan AlMazrouei, Group Head of Personal, Business, Wealth and Privileged Client Banking Group at FAB.
The launch reinforces the UAE’s strategy of pushing digital finance through regulation instead of open-ended crypto experimentation. Stablecoins in this model are positioned less as trading assets and more as programmable extensions of national currency, aimed at institutional scale and government use cases.
