The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Dubai are becoming increasingly popular for crypto companies and startups around the world. Many companies are now setting up shop in Dubai and helping the region establish itself as a crypto hub including one of the largest crypto hedge funds.
Dubai continues to market itself as a crypto-friendly destination through the slew of recent crypto licensures and opens its doors to crypto firms. Many companies are now seizing the opportunity in times of change and setting up more sites in the UAE.
Dubai replacing Singapore as crypto hub
With most of the 170 crypto companies applying for a license to operate in Singapore denied, Dubai is now positioned to make inroads into business areas previously attracted to Far Eastern financial hubs. Singapore originally opened itself up to cryptocurrency firms in January 2022, but has now banned companies from advertising to the public.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has added crypto firms to an Investor Alert List, a group of entities described as “unregulated persons who, based on information received by MAS, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated by the MAS.” In September last year, Binance was placed on the list for allegedly violating the Singaporean Payment Services Act by soliciting business from Singaporean residents. With this in mind Binance just recently received approvals to operate in Dubai, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates and is looking forward to further expand there.
New licenses for crypto firms
Not only Binance received approvals, Kraken, another crypto exchange, recently won a license to serve as a virtual asset trade platform by the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Registration Authority. Bybit moved its headquarters from Singapore to Dubai as well and Crypto.com announced the establishment of a regional nerve center there, while FTX’s regional office for the Middle East will located in the UAE. In addition, three arrows capital, one of the largest crypto hedge funds, is also moving its head office from Singapore to Dubai, as co-founder Su Zhu confirms the migration to the new crypto hub.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore wants to oversee a “responsible” crypto hub that delicately balances the need for regulation with the support of innovation - a balancing act alluded to by MAS managing director Ravi Menon earlier this week. Meanwhile Dubai recently ratified new laws designed to position itself as a prominent jurisdiction when it comes to cryptocurrencies and related concepts like Web3 and the metaverse.
