Dubai Leads The Way as Middle East Becomes Crypto Hotbed

Key Insights:

• Dubai is welcoming global crypto exchanges with open arms.
• Binance plans to bring crypto to the next generation.
• Restrictions in Asia and the West could drive crypto companies to the Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates is gearing up to become the regional hub for crypto businesses following its acceptance of the world’s largest exchanges.

Last week, Binance received in-principal approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market, and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has eyed Dubai for its global headquarters and his base.

Speaking to Arab News over the weekend, the firm’s regional head of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Richard Teng, said that Binance plans to offer more products to more clients in the region:

“We want to become the platform that builds tools to bring about faster crypto adoption and improve freedom of money in the region,”

Middle East Crypto Expansion

Now that it has an official license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, Binance can operate and expand in the region under the Emirate’s ‘test-adapt-scale’ model for crypto assets.

Teng added that the government is taking a proactive approach to digital assets and not lumping them together as securities, which U.S. regulators want to do.

“It is an extremely innovative approach from the Dubai government. It recognizes that crypto is quite different from securities, digital tokens, and commodities and proposes a dedicated framework that can serve different parts of the value chain, manage risks, and support innovation.”

With bans and restrictions emerging in Asian countries such as China, India, and Thailand, and America procrastinating on regulations, the Middle East is poised to become the world’s crypto hub.

Teng has a lot of experience in the field, having worked in the regional regulatory space for two decades and heading the Abu Dhabi Global Market for six years.

Crypto For The Next Generation

He said that working with the Dubai government offers the realization of how well the country supports innovation, crypto adoption, and blockchain development before adding these will become pillars of the economy in the future. Teng wants to prepare the groundwork for the next generation:

“We are working closely with institutions to ensure the next generation is ready for crypto, blockchain, and tokenomics.”

Binance entered into a partnership with the Dubai World Trade Center Authority in December to help it set up and regulate an international digital asset ecosystem. It has also gone on a hiring spree in the UAE to get those plans in motion. The firm also has a similar license to operate in Bahrain, while rival exchange FTX was granted a Dubai license in March.

The national carrier Emirates has also announced its crypto ambitions with plans to convert its Dubai Expo 2020 site into an innovation center to attract talent to the area. The airline plans to embark on a series of projects involving NFTs and the Metaverse.