The city of Dubai has been very welcoming to the crypto space, providing the much-needed regulatory clarity to help the industry thrive. While this attracts native Web3 and crypto businesses to the emirate, even non-crypto businesses started integrating technologies like crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and even the metaverse into their operations. Cointelegraph went to explore various parts of Dubai to find out how crypto and Web3 technologies have been integrated within some businesses in the emirate. Ordering groceries with cryptocurrencies Day To Day, one of the popular and most affordable grocery chains in Dubai, announced that it started to accept …

Last week, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reached an agreement with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. The latter will stop offering crypto staking services to American customers and pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties. While the sum of fines could hardly get an entity like Kraken off balance, the future of staking concerns the crypto market. The court agreement attracted the ire of not only the general crypto community but of investors, politicians and industry executives, with Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran calling SEC Chair Gary Gensler “an agent of an anti-crypto agenda” rather than …

Not even 24 hours after the Canadian University Dubai (CUD) announced its partnership with Binance Pay to accept course fees in cryptocurrencies, a technical roadblock watered down the excitement behind the short-lived initiative. CUD, a private university in Dubai, was seemingly interested in allowing students — both domestic and international — to pay their tuition and course fees in cryptocurrencies. This initiative would have allowed students from varied backgrounds easy access to the Canadian curriculum in Dubai. Dear CUD Community, For technical reasons, CUD will not be accepting cryptocurrency as a method of payment, until further notice. We apologize for …

The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) recently provided the much-awaited guidelines for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which included a ban on privacy coins. On Feb. 7, VARA released several rulebooks for VASPs including the "Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023" in which VARA mentioned a prohibition on privacy coins. In the document, VARA wrote: “The issuance of Anonymity-Enhanced Cryptocurrencies and all VA Activity[ies] related to them are prohibited in the Emirate.” Cointelegraph reached out to several players within Dubai and a privacy protocol project to find out how market participants feel about the …

The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), the regulator in charge of overseeing cryptocurrency laws within Dubai, has issued new guidelines for virtual asset service providers (VASP) operating within the emirate. According to information sent by Irina Heaver, a crypto and blockchain lawyer based in the United Arab Emirates, VARA has issued the “Full Market Product Regulations” which include four compulsory rulebooks and activity-specific rulebooks that lays down the rules for operating VASPs. The rules apply to market participants within Dubai only, with the exception of those operating under the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a free zone with its own …

Along with pro-crypto regulations, mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies requires a supporting infrastructure that can allow the general public access and exposure to the ecosystem. When considering eight key indicators around taxes, ATMs, jobs and events in crypto, London stands at the top as the most crypto-ready city in the world for businesses and start-ups. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s vision to “ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation” is on the right path, reveals research conducted by Recap. An examination of eight key data points determined London to sport the highest crypto-readiness …

Crypto will play a “major role” in the United Arab Emirates' global trade moving forward, says the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade Thani Al-Zeyoudi. Speaking with Bloomberg on Jan. 20 in Davos Switzerland — where world leaders are currently gathered for the 2023 World Economic Forum — Al-Zeyoudi provided a host of updates regarding the UAE’s trade partnerships and policies heading into 2023. Commenting on the crypto sector, the minister stated that “crypto will play a major role for UAE trade going forward,” as he outlined that "the most important thing is that we ensure global governance when …

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cabinet has decided to pass a new law that governs virtual assets, setting up the country's initial regulatory regime for the cryptocurrency space at the federal level. Before the federal-level regulation, the UAE already introduced several supervisory initiatives for digital assets in financial free zones like the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Last year, Dubai also established its own crypto regulator called the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority. Irina Heaver, a UAE-based crypto and blockchain lawyer, explained that the move has several implications in the space. According to Heaver, the new law makes sure that entities …

The sudden failure of FTX has left many people questioning the impact this will have on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. For instance, it remains questionable whether or not crypto hotspots will continue to flourish or if there will be a decline in innovation. While it may be too soon to fully understand the impact of the FTX collapse, industry leaders within crypto-friendly geographies believe that the FTX failure will not hamper innovation. For example, Dubai — which has been dubbed as one of the most innovative regions for crypto and blockchain development — continues to see ecosystem activity. Most recently, The …

With the FTX contagion affecting various sectors of the global crypto ecosystem, Dubai-based industry leaders commented on how the debacle will affect the budding crypto hub within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). From stricter regulations to better projects leading the way, various professionals gave their perspectives on how Dubai and the UAE’s crypto landscape will be affected by the collapse of the FTX exchange. Kokila Alagh, the founder and CEO of KARM Legal Consultants, believes that the FTX collapse will lead to more scrutiny and diligence before projects are approved within Dubai’s licensing process. She explained that: “With the misuse …

As the FTX debacle still creates waves in the crypto industry and beyond, the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has suspended the license which allows FTX to make preparations to service the local market. In an announcement posted on its official website, VARA mentioned that it has revoked the approval of FTX MENA's Minimum Viable Product (MVP) license. Citing the bankruptcy filing of FTX-related entities including FTX exchange and Alameda Research, VARA confirmed that FTX MENA’s license was suspended before any clients were exposed. According to the regulator, FTX MENA was still in the preparatory phase. The authority clarified …