The UAE has successfully upgraded the blockchain infrastructure underpinning its national digital identity system, UAEPASS, to Avalanche (AVAX) as announced on September 14, 2026. According to the latest reports, Avalanche will become the underlying blockchain infrastructure for the vault, while Deca4 will lead implementation in coordination with the UAE's Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA). Ava Labs will provide the infrastructure and technical support needed for the upgrade. This strategic move reflects the growing adoption of Avalanche's Layer 1 blockchain in enterprise and government applications, with the platform's architecture allowing independent blockchains to operate with their own rules and validator sets, ensuring government agencies retain oversight of critical systems. The UAEPASS Digital Vault now serves over 12.5 million registered users, providing a significant institutional test case for Avalanche's scalability beyond traditional crypto applications.
UAEPASS provides access to more than 15,000 services from over 350 public and private entities, serving 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. The Digital Vault operates within UAEPASS, allowing users to request, store and share verified documents through the same national identity system. As reported by Deca4 and Ava Labs, the vault uses cryptographic records to verify documents without storing their contents directly onchain, keeping personal information away from the blockchain while maintaining document integrity. The upgrade to Avalanche is specifically designed to enhance scalability and performance as digital identity demand grows, with the platform supporting dedicated L1 infrastructure that ensures predictable performance and full control over network operations.
The project divides responsibilities among three organizations with clear roles defined. TDRA will supervise the service and its place within the UAE's digital government system, while Deca4 will perform the local implementation and manage the move to the new blockchain environment. Ava Labs will supply Avalanche infrastructure and technical knowledge throughout the implementation process. According to Deca4 founder and CEO Mohammed Mahfoudh, the partnership combines his company's implementation experience in the UAE with Avalanche's blockchain system to build a scalable foundation for trusted digital documents and government services. The decision to shift to Avalanche highlights the UAE's focus on reliability at scale, with the platform's architecture allowing independent blockchains to operate with their own rules and validator sets, ensuring government agencies retain oversight of critical systems.
For Ava Labs, this agreement expands the use of its technology in public digital infrastructure outside the United States, focusing on document verification rather than presenting the native AVAX token as part of the service. As reported by Ava Labs chief business officer John Nahas, digital identity systems must remain reliable while operating at real-world scale, describing the project as infrastructure that works behind the service. Saeed Belhoul, Dgov operations director, emphasized that the UAEPASS Digital Vault has become part of daily life for millions of people in the UAE, with the upgrade ensuring the platform is built on infrastructure that can carry that responsibility for years to come. The implementation aims to simplify verification processes by establishing trust at the issuance level, eliminating repetitive checks and enabling faster processes for banking, visa applications, and other services, with onboarding times that once took days now resolving in minutes. Avalanche's role in UAE PASS verification operates at the verification layer, generating cryptographic hashes for document integrity while keeping personal data off-chain, potentially serving as a blueprint for wider blockchain adoption in government services.
