Abu Dhabi’s ADI spreads digital infrastructure in developing world
Two years after its launch in the Gulf, Abu Dhabi’s ADI Foundation is stepping into Africa and other emerging markets to introduce digital identity and payments systems that connect developing countries to the networked world economy.
The philanthropic initiative is closely tied to Abu Dhabi’s broader push to expand its influence in financial technology and data infrastructure, an effort spearheaded by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Chairman of International Holding Co., the UAE’s largest publicly traded company. While ADI is structured as a non-profit, its work sits alongside the emirate’s deepening investments in artificial intelligence, data centers and digital finance.
ADI’s focus is to help countries implement systems that enable citizens to prove their identity online, move money instantly, and access government services. In many emerging markets, those foundations remain patchy or absent.
“If you don’t have digital identity or payments, everything else breaks down,” Huy Nguyen Trieu, a member of ADI’s governing Council and former Citigroup executive, said in an interview with The Circuit. “You can talk about innovation all you want, but people can’t even get started.”
ADI was unveiled at Abu Dhabi Finance Week in 2024 and spent its first year building and testing its systems. In 2025, it began lining up partners and pilot projects, including infrastructure supporting the UAE’s regulated digital currency. Beginning this year, the foundation is moving into direct deployments with governments, courting nations in Africa and other emerging markets where basic digital infrastructure remains underdeveloped.
“ADI matters because digital infrastructure is becoming a geopolitical and financial lever, not just a technology investment,” said Aurélien Paradis, chief executive of Dubai-based AU Group.
“For the UAE, this is about building future corridors of digital trade,” he told The Circuit. “If you finance ports, you shape physical trade. If you finance data and compute, you shape digital trade.”
At the center of ADI’s technology stack is blockchain, the digital ledger for cryptocurrencies that enables multiple institutions to rely on the same secure records. The system also supports stablecoins, digital tokens designed to maintain a fixed value against traditional currencies and move money quickly under regulatory oversight.
During the past year, ADI has announced partnerships with global financial firms, including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Mastercard, aimed at testing how regulated digital money and asset settlement could work across borders.
Trieu, 53, was born in Paris to Vietnamese parents and holds degrees from France’s Ecole Polytechnique and MIT. He is the author of several books on the future of finance and technology, including The AI-fication of Jobs and The Future of Finance.
ADI is funded by Sirius International, the technology arm of IHC, but operates independently. The structure allows ADI to work directly with governments while giving IHC early visibility into how national digital systems are being built.
For IHC, a $238 billion colossus with a portfolio of 1,400 subsidiaries spanning finance, real estate, tech, energy, logistics and healthcare, the payoff is indirect.
“We’re not facing a shortage of technology,” Trieu said. “We’re facing a shortage of access.”
The foundation is led by ADI CEO Andrey Lazorenko and Aja Bhatia, CEO of Sirius International, who conceived the initiative and set its strategic direction. Another Council member is Alison Rose, the former CEO of the U.K.-based NatWest Group, who brings experience in bank regulation and financial infrastructure.
The foundation has set a goal of reaching 1 billion people by 2030, working through governments rather than onboarding users directly
“If we succeed, people won’t know we exist,” Nguyen Trieu said. “They’ll just notice that things work.”