The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Foreign Trade says that cryptocurrency will “play an important role in the future of UAE trade.” He stressed: “The most important thing is that we ensure global governance when it comes to cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency companies.”
Crypto will play an important role in the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi spoke about cryptocurrencies on Friday during an interview with Bloomberg in Davos, Switzerland.
He shared that one area the UAE is looking to expand is cryptocurrencies, adding:
Crypto will play an important role for UAE trading in the future.
“The most important thing is that we ensure global governance when it comes to cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency companies,” Al Zeyoudi described.
“We started to attract some of the companies to the country with the goal that we build together the correct governance and legal system, which are necessary,” the official said.
Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, also spoke about cryptocurrency regulation last week at a World Economic Forum session titled “Finding the Right Balance for Crypto in Davos. He confirmed that no cryptocurrency exchanges have been authorized in the UAE, stressing that the regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies in the UAE are “not light.” The minister said:
The UAE has not issued a single licensed crypto exchange in the UAE, neither Binance nor FTX… no one was able to onboard any customers even last week.
The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), established in March, also claims on its website that it has not granted any operating permits to date. VARA is responsible for licensing and regulating the crypto sector in the Emirate of Dubai and its free zone territories (excluding DIFC) under UAE law.
However, several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, FTX, Okx, Bitoasis, and Coinmena, have received a provisional license from VARA. The regulator recently clarified that these crypto trading platforms are in stage one of a four-stage approval process.
According to the 2022 “Digital Lifestyle” report released by the UAE Digital Government and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TDRA), around 11.4% of UAE residents own or have invested in cryptocurrencies.
Do you agree with Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi that cryptocurrencies will play an important role in UAE trade? Let us know in the comments section.
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