Dubai, UAE – May 2025 — TheBlock., the International Chamber of Virtual Assets, has announced a strategic partnership with Cointelegraph, the world’s leading Web3 media platform. The collaboration brings together two major players in the blockchain and virtual asset space, with the shared goal of amplifying the global adoption of tokenisation, advancing regulatory dialogue, and supporting builders entering the MENA region.

The agreement, signed during Token2049 Dubai, highlights Cointelegraph’s growing collaboration with key players in the UAE. This new partnership will foster deeper collaboration and mutual support across TheBlock’s ecosystem.

As part of the collaboration, Cointelegraph will set up a presence at TheBlock’s headquarters in Dubai World Trade Center, offering opportunities for engagement with founders, partners, and clients within the ecosystem. The partnership also includes joint participation in educational panels, roundtables, and summits focused on real-world assets (RWAs), compliance, and capital allocation.

“This partnership is not just about media,” said Farbod Sadeghian, Founder of TheBlock. “It is about building an access layer for the global virtual asset economy. By working with Cointelegraph, we are strengthening how the industry connects, informs, and grows — from regulatory frameworks to investment pipelines.”

Cointelegraph will engage with TheBlock’s ecosystem through media coverage, speaker participation, and collaborative events. The partnership reflects ongoing efforts to support the growth of Dubai’s virtual asset sector, where regulatory developments and real-world applications continue to evolve.

“The partnership reflects Cointelegraph’s ongoing efforts to broaden its network of like-minded collaborators, all working toward the shared goal of strengthening and advancing the ecosystem,” said Yana Prikhodchenko, CEO of Cointelegraph. “We aim to grow the community by leveraging this partnership while also expanding our regional presence in the UAE. This collaboration will help strengthen both efforts.”

With over 100 events planned annually, a growing portfolio of international members, and over $8 billion in projects deal flow, TheBlock. continues to serve as a launchpad for startups, enterprises, and institutions looking to expand their presence in the region.

The partnership represents a new step in aligning media and access to foster trust, facilitate knowledge sharing, and support progress in the virtual asset space.

About TheBlock:

As an international chamber of virtual assets based in Dubai, TheBlock. connects regulators, founders, investors, and institutions shaping the future of virtual assets. It provides a structured platform for dialogue, collaboration, and access across key pillars of the virtual asset economy. Through membership programs, strategic partnerships, and curated events, TheBlock. offers its members direct engagement with the people and policies driving the industry forward. With a growing global network and strong regional footprint, it supports meaningful growth and influence in the virtual asset landscape.

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Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko proposed a new data availability (DA) solution to improve persistent fragmentation and lack of interoperability across blockchain networks.

In a May 12 post on X, Yakovenko proposed a “meta blockchain” to aggregate and order data posted across multiple layer-1 chains, including Ethereum, Celestia and Solana.

“This would actually allow the meta chain to use the cheapest currently available DA offer,” Yakovenko said.

Data availability layers are third-party solutions ensuring that blockchains have the necessary data to validate transactions.

Source: Anatoly Yakovenko

Blockchain interoperability is one of the most pressing issues for Web3 developers, since today’s siloed layer-1 (L1) blockchain networks have no means of communicating or exchanging data, creating a need for crosschain interoperability solutions like DA layers.

Other leading blockchains are also focused on improving DA solutions. Ethereum’s upcoming Fusaka upgrade, expected in late 2025, will focus on scaling the Ethereum mainnet’s capacity as a DA layer by introducing EIP-7594.

Ethereum data capacity upgrades. Source: Binance Research

This upgrade may boost Ethereum’s value accrual, depending on whether existing layer-2 blockchains continue choosing Ethereum for data availability in the future, a Binance Research spokesperson told Cointelegraph.

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Making data availability cheap makes “everything else cheap”

Creating cheaper DA solutions is essential to reduce the costs associated with blockchain-based transactions, Yakovenko said in a response to his initial post, adding:

“Making data availability cheap allows for making everything else cheap. Bandwidth is the irreducible bottleneck.”

He also suggested that a more advanced solution could eliminate external sequencers by using a rule-based system to merge transactions across chains, allowing users to send transactions “anywhere.”

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Other prominent blockchain industry leaders have also called for more interoperability and collaborative tokenomics among the leading blockchains.

Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week 2025, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson emphasized the need for collaborative economics in the crypto industry to counter growing competition from traditional tech firms entering the blockchain space.

Charles Hoskinson. Source: Cointelegraph

“The problem right now, with the way we’ve done things in the cryptocurrency space, is the tokenomics and the market structure are intrinsically adversarial. It’s sum 0,” said Hoskinson. “Instead of picking a fight, what you have to do is you have to find tokenomics and market structure that allows you to be in a cooperative equilibrium.”

Aiming to align blockchain network incentives, Cardano has been working on “Minotaur,” a multi-resource consensus protocol that combines multiple consensus mechanisms and networks to pay a unified block reward to multiple networks at the same time.

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Tether, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDt, is rolling out its tokenized gold digital asset in Thailand with a listing on local cryptocurrency exchange Maxbit.

In a May 13 announcement, Tether said its gold-backed token, Tether Gold (XAUt), has been listed on Thai exchange Maxbit.

According to an X announcement by Maxbit, the platform is the first in Thailand to offer a “tokenized gold pair backed by physical gold.”

Launched in January 2020, Tether Gold is a gold-backed digital asset with a market cap of $802 million, with each XAUt representing ownership of one troy ounce of gold.

Thailand greenlighted stablecoins like Tether USDt in March

Tether Gold’s entrance in the Thai cryptocurrency market follows other notable stablecoin-related regulatory developments in the country.

In March, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission approved US dollar-backed stablecoins such as Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) for cryptocurrency trades, allowing the stablecoins to be listed on regulated exchanges across Thailand.

Major Maxbit shareholders. Source: Thai SEC

Launched in October 2023, Maxbit is a licensed digital asset exchange based in Thailand, operating under the oversight of the Thai SEC.

According to official SEC records, Thai energy conglomerate PTG Energy is the largest shareholder of Maxbit, with a 35% stake in the firm. Other Maxbit backers include two local private firms, Spearhead Labs and Unit Company, holding 29% and 28.7% in the digital asset business.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

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