In this month's issue of The Otonomist, we first talk about the size and quirks of the corporate services industry and how Otonomos is disrupting it by using AI and cryptographic wallets. We then double-click on 4 freezones in the UAE which you can now select and pay for online from our homepage. We also share an update about our dev efforts and invite you to our London event on 20 May.
Enjoy Spring in the Northern Hemisphere!
Han, Founder and CEO
UNBOUNDED THINKING
Company formation and corporate services: the last analog bastion of the business world
Companies are the legal containers for all economic value: We estimate that 85% of the world's value is decanted in legal entities rather than held in personal title.
But companies still largely run on analog rails, creating friction, costs and geographical bulkheads that prevent investments and participation across borders.
In this post, we examine the quirks of this US$100BN a year market - almost three times the size of the global music industry! - and how the interplay between blockchains and AI have the potential to drag it into the digital/AI world.
JURISDICTION DOUBLE-CLICK
Buy a UAE entity online: We're adding 4 freezone entities to our online offering
Into 2025, recent tax changes in the U.K. have accelerated a trend for entrepreneurs and wealthy people to leave Britain.
The United Arab Emirates is their top destination, followed by the U.S. The former is now home to 81,200 millionaires, including 237 centimillionaires and 20 billionaires, a 102% increase in the last decade.
In this post, we take a closer look at the UAE as an attractive place to relocate, with a focus on Web3 builders, and guide you through the setup in 4 key freezones to help you decide where to form your UAE entity, even if you do not go and live there.
FROM THE OTONOMOS DEVELOPMENT DESK
Futureproof login and cryptographically authenticated company roles
On the Otonomos development side, April was again a full month of mainly infrastructure work and retooling, with some routine bug fixing.
The biggest noticeable change for our users will be the new way to login to their Otonomos dashboard.
We now use Privy as a way to securely access all your companies from your browser. Simply enter your email and a code will be sent for you to instantly login.
In addition to streamlining our user authentication, we futureproofed logins by adding "abstracted wallets".
These smart contract wallets can be created in the background and linked to the email address you use to login with us, and will eventually allow Otonomos to link wallets to roles in your companies and let you perform onchain transactions.
No doubt you'll hear a lot more about abstracted accounts soon now that Ethereum's Pectra upgrade went live on 7 May.
UNCHAINED
Meet Otonomos over free drinks at our "Third Tuesday" London get together at 5pm on Tuesday 20 May
Join us for our monthly in-person meet where fellow doers, investors and other members of the broader Otonomos family swap intel and build bonds.
Come for the conversation, stay for the community: No agenda, no presentations—just authentic connections with fellow builders in your city.
We're buying a first round of drinks at 5.30pm at the aptly named Founder's Arms, "the best pub on London's South Bank", right by Tate Modern and next to Shakespeare's Globe, an easy walk across the Millennium bridge or from London Bridge Station.
> Unchain from your desk, bring a guest along and rediscover how that one key IRL convo saves you hours of reading up online!
Our next Third Tuesday event is set to be in Miami on Tuesday 17 June.
