UAE Taps Avalanche to Secure Digital Identity for 12.5M People

UAE Upgrades National Document ID Vault To Avalanche

The UAE is trusting the document data of over 12.5 million citizens to a blockchain-based system.

The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) has chosen Avalanche, a smart contract-enabled layer 1 blockchain, to upgrade its UAEPASS digital vault, which controls the issuance, sharing, and verification of documents issued by both government and private institutions.

UAEPASS is the country’s national digital identity platform that centralizes and simplifies the management of ID and document data, allowing downstream services to simplify verification of already signed certifications.

John Nahas, Chief Business Officer at Ava Labs, stressed the relevance of UAEPASS digital vault migrating to Avalanche, highlighting that reliability was paramount in a digital identity-based system.

“The UAE is building digital services people use every day, and Avalanche is designed for exactly that kind of environment. This project shows what technology built for business looks like, with high-performance infrastructure operating behind the scenes to help deliver secure and seamless services,” he stated.

Avalanche explains that this move to an Avax-powered dedicated L1 blockchain lets the system manage only UAE-related traffic on its own network, allowing it to enjoy predictable performance rather than relying on blockspace lent by a public blockchain that can suffer due to external conditions.

Also, after this improvement, the TDRA oversees the UAEPASS Digital Vault ecosystem, setting the terms for the infrastructure and who accesses and manages it. “A government cannot outsource accountability for a system 12.5 million people depend on,” Avalanche assessed.

“Upgrading the Digital Vault ensures the platform is built on infrastructure that can carry that responsibility for years to come,” said Saeed Belhoul, Dgov Operations Director at the TDRA.

The move is similar to what the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has done before, digitizing 42 million car titles on Avalanche to speed up and facilitate title transfer operations. Avalanche has also been in the spotlight after facilitating tens of thousands of ticketing transactions during the FIFA World Cup 2026.