The convergence of blockchain technology and regulated financial services took a significant step forward as Fuze, one of the Middle East and Africa’s fastest-growing financial infrastructure providers, signed a memorandum of understanding with Miden, a blockchain company backed by a16z and others.
The agreement aims to fix one of the largest barriers to institutional adoption of digital assets. The majority of blockchains in production today utilize public ledgers, where transactions can be seen, traced, and analysed by anyone. The MoU between Miden and Fuze enables privacy-preserving infrastructure that protects customer data and sensitive business activity, while still allowing regulators to oversee, audit, and enforce compliance requirements such as know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) protocols.
"For digital assets to move beyond experimentation, they need infrastructure that institutions and regulators can actually deploy in the real world," said Azeem Khan, cofounder of Miden. "Working with Fuze allows us to design systems that pair privacy and control with regulatory clarity, starting in markets that are already leaning into this future."
Fuze brings to the partnership an extensive network of banks, fintechs, and enterprises across the Middle East, Africa, and other high-growth regions. Fuze is MENA’s first-of-its-kind regulated digital assets infrastructure provider, offering financial institutions and businesses cutting-edge tools to integrate digital asset services securely and efficiently. Fuze offers a Digital-Assets-as-a-Service infrastructure platform which enables banks and fintechs to embed regulated digital assets products in a B2B2C fashion. Additionally, Fuze provides an Over-The-Counter (OTC) service that supports institutions, funds, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) in executing large digital asset trades securely and efficiently.
The strategic focus areas for the collaboration span payments, remittances, and wealth services. Mohammed Ali Yusuf (Mo Ali Yusuf), CEO of Fuze, said: "When blockchain meets financial services, the real challenge isn’t the technology; it’s balancing privacy, interoperability, and regulatory compliance. Miden’s approach to privacy-first infrastructure complements our distribution and partnerships across the region, creating a powerful foundation for adoption."
The partnership is designed to bring together Fuze’s vast network of partners with Miden’s world-class private blockchain infrastructure to drive development for regulated digital asset use cases across payments, remittances, and wealth services. For businesses, this enables financial institutions and enterprises to utilize blockchain infrastructure without revealing confidential data, information, or commercial relationships. At a broader market level, it supports the shift from digital assets experimentation to practical, regulated implementation for everyday financial use cases. This MoU brings together the expertise of two transcontinental businesses that aims to shift blockchain theory into real, regulated financial activity.
The collaboration underscores the growing role of the Middle East as a hub for regulated digital asset innovation and infrastructure development. The parties intend to continue working closely as they explore pilots, partnerships, and deployment opportunities across key emerging markets.