Avalanche to power UAEPASS Digital Vault serving 12.5M users

Avalanche has secured a role in the blockchain upgrade of the UAEPASS Digital Vault, a document service within the UAE’s national identity platform used by 12.5 million people.

According to a Sep. 14 announcement from Deca4 and Ava Labs, the companies will work with the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority to upgrade the blockchain system supporting the vault.

Deca4 will lead the implementation and coordinate the transition with TDRA, while Ava Labs will provide Avalanche infrastructure and technical expertise. The partners expect the new system to support rising demand for digital identity services and verified documents across the country.

UAEPASS serves citizens, residents and visitors as the UAE’s national digital identity platform. Users can authenticate their identities, sign documents, and access digital services offered by government agencies and private companies.

With 12.5 million users, the platform connects people to more than 15,000 services across over 350 participating entities. The Digital Vault operates within UAEPASS, allowing users to request, store and share verified documents through the same national identity system.

Avalanche will support document verification

Rather than storing the contents of personal documents directly onchain, the Digital Vault uses cryptographic records to confirm their integrity. The blockchain record can verify that a document has not been changed without placing the personal information contained in the file onchain.

Avalanche will become the underlying blockchain infrastructure for that verification process. Deca4 and Ava Labs said the upgrade would improve the vault’s capacity and performance as more people and organizations use digital identity and document services.

Keeping personal information away from the blockchain also separates the verification record from the document itself. Users can share a verified file while the supporting cryptographic record helps the receiving organization check whether the document remains authentic.

TDRA will oversee the Digital Vault ecosystem, while Deca4 will handle the local implementation. Ava Labs will support the deployment with its blockchain technology and technical team.

Saeed Belhoul, Dgov operations director, said the system already plays a regular role in how millions of people use services across the country.

“The UAEPASS Digital Vault has become part of daily life for millions of people in the UAE, and the trust they place in it is something we protect every day,” Belhoul said.

He added that upgrading the vault would give the platform infrastructure capable of carrying that responsibility “for years to come.”

Deca4 will oversee the UAEPASS transition

As the main implementation partner, Deca4 will manage the move to the new blockchain environment in coordination with TDRA. The company works across blockchain, digital infrastructure, and other emerging technologies.

The project divides responsibilities among the three organizations. TDRA will supervise the service and its place within the UAE’s digital government system; Deca4 will perform the local implementation, and Ava Labs will supply Avalanche infrastructure and technical knowledge.

Mohammed Mahfoudh, founder and CEO of Deca4, said the partnership combines his company’s implementation experience in the UAE with Avalanche’s blockchain system.

“By combining Deca4’s local implementation capabilities with Avalanche technology, we are helping build a scalable foundation for the next generation of trusted digital documents and government services,” Mahfoudh said.

For users, the Digital Vault will continue to provide a place to request, keep, and share verified records. The blockchain component works behind the service, supporting document checks without requiring users to manage the verification process separately.

UAEPASS also places the vault inside an identity platform that already supports authentication and electronic signatures. A user can therefore prove an identity, sign a file, and access connected services through one national system rather than relying on a separate account for every participating organization.

The platform covers both public and private services, extending its use beyond interactions with government agencies. More than 350 entities are connected to UAEPASS, giving the blockchain upgrade a role in a service used across several parts of the UAE’s digital economy.

UAEPASS gives Avalanche a large government use case

Serving a national identity platform gives Avalanche a government use case tied to millions of registered users and thousands of digital services. Its role will focus on the infrastructure behind verified documents rather than placing the blockchain directly in front of users.

John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, said digital identity systems must remain reliable while operating at real-world scale.

“Digital identity is one of the clearest examples of technology that has to work reliably at real-world scale,” Nahas said.

Describing the blockchain as infrastructure that works behind the service, Nahas said the project partnership shows how Avalanche can support systems that people use in their daily lives.

For U.S.-based Ava Labs, the agreement expands the use of its technology in public digital infrastructure outside the United States. The UAE project focuses on document verification and does not present Avalanche’s native AVAX token as part of the service.

Avalanche has also expanded into consumer payments. In February As previously 2025, crypto.news reported on its Visa card, which allowed users to spend supported cryptocurrencies through a physical or digital card wherever Visa was accepted.

The UAEPASS deployment applies Avalanche technology to a different function. Instead of processing retail crypto spending, the infrastructure will help verify the integrity of digital records inside the UAE’s national identity platform.

The vault supports the UAE’s digital service network

The project adds blockchain infrastructure to an established government service rather than creating a separate identity platform. UAEPASS already gives citizens, residents, and visitors a single digital identity for accessing services and signing documents.

Within that system, the Digital Vault lets users receive verified records from connected entities before storing or sharing them when needed. Cryptographic verification allows another party to check a document’s integrity while keeping its personal contents offchain.

Ava Labs will provide technical support throughout the implementation, while Deca4 will oversee the upgrade and transition. TDRA will continue to supervise the Digital Vault ecosystem as the service supports verified documents across government bodies and private-sector organizations.