Dubai virtual asset regulator grants initial approval to B2B Prime

Dubai virtual asset regulator grants initial approval to B2B Prime

It seems like almost every week or so new virtual asset service providers are seeking licenses in Dubai UAE. The latest already regulated in Cyprus and Mauritius, is B2 Prime Group. Its MENA entity, B2B Prime Digital MEA has been granted initial approval for a crypto broker, crypto exchange, payment and transfer license from VARA (Dubai Virtual asset regulatory Authority).

As per the press release, licensing remains subject to fulfillment of pre-operating conditions and qualifying for operational approval by VARA.

This milestone signifies the granting of Initial approvals from VARA for licenses covering activities of “Virtual Asset Exchange Services,” “Virtual Asset Broker Dealer Services,” and “Virtual Asset Transfer and Settlement Services”.

Eugenia Mykuliak, Founder of B2Prime, expressed her gratitude for this achievement, stating, “We are excited to contribute to the growth of Dubai’s ever growing Virtual assets ecosystem.”

Arthur Azizov, Co-Founder of B2B Prime Digital MENA added, “We are extremely proud and grateful to have received initial approval from VARA, which is a testament to our determination to maintain the highest standards in regulatory compliance.”We’ve built a powerful ecosystem that not only meets but exceeds the industry’s standards, guaranteeing a safe and efficient gateway to virtual assets for users. We are ready to move forward in the licensing process in our bid to offer secure and streamlined access to virtual assets, strictly adhering to VARA’s guidelines.”

“The receipt of the Initial Approval for all three licenses, particularly the Transfer and Settlement License, was eagerly awaited and has brought immense joy to our entire team. This achievement has undoubtedly inspired us to pour our absolute best towards securing the Virtual Asset Service Provider license”, stated Adriana Paredes Herrera, CEO of B2B Prime Digital MENA.

B2Prime Group, a Prime of Prime Multi-Asset Liquidity Provider, serves institutional and professional clients globally and offers compliant, reliable expertise across Forex, Crypto CFDs, and other markets.

OKX gears up for UAE license with arabic language website

OKX gears up for UAE license with arabic language website

OKX is gearing up towards its official launch out of the UAE as it awaits its license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority (VARA) with the launch of its Arabic language website and application for both crypto trading and Web3 services.

As per the press release, this initiative marks a significant step in making digital assets and web3 technologies more accessible to Arabic-speaking audiences.

With the Arabic website and application OKX is catering to the unique needs of different markets, ensuring a smooth and user-friendly experience for Arabic-speaking users.

OKX MENA General Manager Rifad Mahasneh said, “The introduction of the Arabic OKX website and app represents our customer focus and commitment to growth. By offering our exchange and web3 platforms in Arabic, we aim to empower more individuals to participate in the evolving digital economy seamlessly. The addition of Arabic to our global platform brings the total number of languages available to 22, highlighting our global reach and dedication to customer service.”

OKX’s crypto exchange is the second largest globally by trading volume and is trusted by more than 50 million users. OKX’s leading self-custody solutions include the Web3-compatible OKX Wallet, which allows users greater control of their assets while expanding access to DEXs, NFT marketplaces, DeFi, GameFi and thousands of dApps.

OKX announced the establishment of its Hong Kong entity (OKX Hong Kong) in March 2023 for the purpose of applying for the VASP license and operating as a virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong. In September 2023 OKX announced that it was in its final stretch of its virtual asset service provider (VASP) license in Hong Kong. The exchange is expected to receive approval by March 2024.

In UAE, OKX received its MVP preparatory license from Dubai’s VARA in June 2023 and is still awaiting its final license. In November of 2023, OKX announced the appointment of a general manager for the MENA region based out of Dubai UAE.

In December 2023 the exchange delisted multiple tokens based on user feedback and failure to adhere to its delisting/hiding guidelines, including several privacy-focused tokens. The first batch of delistings will see KSM, FLOW, JST, ANT, FSN, KZS, CAPO, and CVP trading pairs delisted on January 4, 2024. Followed by XMR, DASH, ZEC, and ZEN, delisted on January 5, 2024. This is a requirement by VARA as it does not allow the trading of privacy focused tokens.

Binance adds 40 million users amid a tumultuous year

Binance adds 40 million users amid a tumultuous year

Despite the uphill battle that has faced Binance in 2023, in their recent 2023 yearend report, the company stated that they had increased their customer base by 30 percent, with 40 million new users. Binance now has a total of 170 million users.

As per the report, the company is focused on its user base and on strengthening their compliance program. The report states, “We are making important steps toward becoming a truly compliance-led organization. Above all else, we were able to maintain the trust of our growing community, which is fundamental to our mission of advancing the freedom of money globally.”

Binance added, “In 2023, we invested some $213M in our compliance program, up 35% from last year’s $158M\ But money alone does not capture the entirety of our commitment. Binance dedicates significant product and engineering resources to compliance. For example, we have built our own case management system in a matter of months, as well as an internal transaction monitoring engine and built in-house tools to help semi-automate the investigations process.  We have applied improved market surveillance controls, especially around wash or circular trading, to our trading platforms, including NFT marketplace, to ensure that the markets that we offer are fair and equitable for all participants.”

In the USA as per the terms of their settlement, Binance will hire an independent anti money-laundering consultant and will be subject to a multi-year financial monitorship, ensuring we receive strong compliance guidance. Binance’s corporate governance structure will evolve as well. A board of at least three independent directors, accountable to all stakeholders, will be the steward and governing body of the organization.

Binance hold licenses, registrations, and authorizations in 18 jurisdictions around the world.

But the crux of their efforts has been once again towards compliance. It invested in localized KYC vendor and product solutions to enhance the user experience and make the onboarding process seamless. They also embedded 10+ electronic ID (eID) solutions globally. Striving to deliver the best user experience, they added  support for 298 new ID and proof-of-address documents across 64 countries this year.  

The crypto exchange also processed over 58,000 law enforcement requests, serving some 13,000 registered officials worldwide through their Government Law Enforcement Request System. This is an improvement over 50,000+ requests that Binance handled in 2022.

Binance still awaits to receive a license in the UAE, and formally make the UAE one of its regional headquarters as a licensed entity.

UAE IHC holding spurs its growth in Blockchain, AI, and IoT with new joint venture

UAE IHC holding spurs its growth in Blockchain, AI, and IoT with new joint venture

UAE IHC Holding, which bought 10 percent of UAE Phoenix Group, a leading Bitcoin mining entity continues to spur its growth in Blockchain, AI and IoT in a joint venture with Indian Adani Group.

The joint venture, Sirius Digitech will be based out of Abu Dhabi UAE. Indian based Adani Global Ltd. and UAE IHC’s Sirius International Holding Ltd. will own 49% and 51% respectively in the Sirius Digitech International Ltd. Both partners will have an equal representation on the board of new entity which will also explore Internet of Things and blockchain besides AI.

The venture aims to explore sectors ranging from Fintech and Healthtech to Greentech, leveraging Adani’s proven track record of incubating successful businesses within its extensive portfolio.

The partners emphasized their dedication to collaborative decision-making through equal representation on the board, highlighting the alignment of Adani’s innovation and IHC’s strategic vision. In addition, they aim to go beyond AI, exploring the transformative possibilities of IoT and blockchain technologies to bring about significant advancements across industries.

Prior to this IHC  purchased 10 percent of Pheonix Group which holds investments in Bitcoin mining, as well as investments in the recently launched M2 regulated crypto exchange out of Abu Dhabi. This positions IHC not only in the realm of digital assets but now more so in Blockchain, AI, and other technologies.

UAE based Venom Blockchain gets good news

UAE based Venom Blockchain gets good news

It seems good news are in order for UAE based Venom Blockchain. Alibek Garcia Isaaev, one of the founders and main investors in Venom Blockchain has been found innocent of all civil and criminal charges. Not only that but he will be receiving close to a billion dollars in restitution. This closes a very bleak chapter in the Venom Blockchain history and it comes at the right time.

In July 2023, Alibek Garcia Isaev, was pushed into the center of a very controversial legal entanglement which brought a lot of criticism not only to Issaev but inadvertently Venom Blockchain, and its Foundation.

In the media Issaev was called a “fraudster” but now he has been cleared of all charges, and it is Ilya Kligman, a Russian banker that has been found guilty and has been sentenced to prison in the UAE. UAE court convicted Ilya Kligman for a prison term in absentia. According to news sources, “He is set to face a prison term, extradition from Germany to the UAE, and the recovery of multibillion-dollar damages he caused to numerous companies through extortion, blackmail, and obstructing their normal functioning.”

It seems Kligman fled from Russia to Germany for multiple financial crimes. He is noted to have siphoned off billions of rubles from Russia and bankrupted dozens of Russian banks.

One of the companies owned by Kligman, Papaya Ltd, registered in Malta (with partners such as Mastercard and dozens of payment projects), will be seized. Lawyers have already filed requests with law enforcement agencies in Germany, Malta, and the Czech Republic.

On the other hand, all charges against Alibek Isaev, one of the main investors in Venom, have been dropped in both civil and criminal courts. Ilya Kligman will be obligated to pay Alibek Isaev compensation amounting to $940 million. This sum represents restitution for all the damage caused and is part of the efforts to restore justice and punish unlawful actions.

After serving his prison term in the UAE and settling all compensations, Kligman will face extradition back to Russia, to face sentencing there.

This is good news, after many have noted that Venom Blockchain has been quiet with no investments being made into startups. Now the case is cleared Venom will be able to resume its activity. Venom on launching early 2023 had noted that it would be launching a $1 billion venture fund.

UAE based Venom Ventures Fund, invested $5 million in Everscale, a premier blockchain platform that aims to solve the scalability issues bogging down the Web3 industry. It also acquired a crypto exchange naming it Venomex after it received its license from ADGM in October 2022.

Earlier this month Mustafa Kheriba, the Executive Chairman of Venomex, a UAE regulated crypto exchange and one of the initial investors and supporters of UAE based Venom Blockchain Foundation resigned from his position at Venom Foundation.

However it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel for Venom Blockchain.

Decentralized exchange gets a push in the UAE

Decentralized exchange gets a push in the UAE

UAE based Finschia Foundation, an independent non-profit organization, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, established in March 2023 to expand public blockchain and Web3 technologies, and NEOPIN, DeFi multichain platform have partnered to provide decentralized exchange services.

Finschia and NEOPIN will collaborate to develop the Finschia Network Swap (hereinafter referred to as FNSwap). NEOPIN is currently developing FNSwap, which will be the first Automated Market Maker (AMM) Decentralized Exchange in the Finschia ecosystem.

NEOPIN has been building blockchain expertise and technology since 2017, participating as a node validator for various global blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, Cardano, and Cosmos. In 2022, the company launched the CeDeFi protocol NEOPIN to provide a secure and convenient environment for using the DeFi protocol.

This year, the company was selected as an innovation program company by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) in the UAE to attract direct and indirect investment, and is working with the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a special financial zone in the UAE, to create the world’s first DeFi regulation as a public-private partnership.

As per the news, FNSwap is envisioned as a community-first, community-owned centered and fair platform, offering various range of DeFi products and incentives. These include token swapping, earning fees and rewards by depositing tokens into through token deposits in pools, gaining incentives incentive acquisition through token staking, and token transfers with EVM-based chains via bridge.

FNSwap is set to launch in the near future, providing users with a stable and convenient platform to access DEX services within the Finschia ecosystem.  Later it will be expanded by creating an environment where various Finschia dApp services can easily list tokens and users can trade conveniently.

According to the news, the Foundation will continuously provide necessary technical support and integration for the development of a diverse array of ‘money legos’, starting with supporting the basic token swap services. This support aims to facilitate the onboarding of DeFi services, propelling the platform towards becoming the №1 DeFi platform in Asia.

UAE headquartered Fasset crypto exchange joins the regulated VASP community in Dubai

UAE headquartered Fasset crypto exchange joins the regulated VASP community in Dubai

In less than a year UAE headquartered, Fasset, digital assets platform, has gone from receiving an initial approval for an FMP license to becoming a fully licensed VASP crypto broker in UAE.

In May 2023 Fasset, a digital asset exchange platform with a vision to offer affordable and frictionless gateway for people in emerging markets to own and grow their wealth in digital assets  announced  that it has been granted an Initial Approval for a Full Market Product (FMP) license by the Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in UAE.

Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Founder and CEO of Fasset, told LaraontheBlock, “Our ability to connect loved ones, families and small businesses across borders while transporting economic value across borders -is a milestone and a historic shift in the way we will all operate in the near future.”

He also commented that the license will strengthen Fasset’s portfolio and connect regions  like Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Turkey. Fasset users can now confidently transfer assets from the GCC to Asia, enabling sustainable and ethical wealth growth in one of the world’s busiest remittance corridors.

Previously, Hossain had noted in a LinkedIn post that 47.8% of the world’s household wealth is owned by 1.2% of the people. He stated, “ It’s becoming increasingly clear that the traditional routes to asset ownership are no longer equitable; as access to high quality assets – be it real estate, commodities or equities – are only easily attainable to a mere fragment of the world’s population. A fresher approach of tokenization and crypto can positively impact emerging markets by giving everyone an equal chance to own high quality real world and digitally native assets.”

Fasset recently received a strategic investment from Investcorp as it prepared for a series B funding round.

This license follows Fasset’s launch in Indonesia in August, where it partnered with Mastercard Indonesia and telco giant Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison.

Fasset;s license comes on the same day that CoinMENA has received its license, and just a week after Abu Dhabi M2 received theirs.

Binance crypto exchange is being monitored by Dubai’s Virtual asset regulator

Binance crypto exchange is being monitored by Dubai’s Virtual asset regulator

As the woes pack up on Binance crypto exchange, first with the guilty plea from CZ, and then Ronaldo being sued because he promoted Binance products, the Dubai Virtual asset regulator VARA has made a statement that it is continuing to asses and monitor Binance activities to strict regulatory requirements, rigorous KYC and due diligence.

As per VARA, Binance FZE crypto exchange currently only holds a Minimum Viable Product [MVP] Operational License with VARA, which allows them access to a restricted client base. As such to date, Binance have on boarded approximately 180 qualified investors and institutional clients.

VARA notes that it  cannot comment on regulatory and enforcement actions taken on business conducted in other jurisdictions, but does assure, “ We have been, and will continue to be, closely monitoring ongoing developments and specifically how they relate to Binance FZE operations in accordance with our commitment to uphold market integrity, consumer protection, and the security of the domestic ecosystem.”

Binance while being one of the first to apply for a license in the UAE, has been late in receiving a license while others such as M2 in Abu Dhabi, RAIN crypto broker, CoinMENA, Fasset,  and many others have been able to become fully licensed.

It seems that Richard Teng, the new CEO of Binance will have a lot on his plate in the coming months.

UAE regulated, Laser Digital integrates with Institutional digital asset provider Talos

UAE regulated, Laser Digital integrates with Institutional digital asset provider Talos

Laser Digital, crypto broker and investment service provider, a subsidiary of Japanese Nomura has integrated with Talos, which provides an institutional-grade technology infrastructure that supports the full lifecycle of digital assets trading and procurement including liquidity sourcing, price discovery, trade execution, settlement, lending, and borrowing.

As per the press release,this partnership broadens Laser Digital’s reach among institutional clients while adding a new source of institutional-grade liquidity to the Talos network.

“We are proud to join forces with Talos to expand institutional access to digital assets,” said Jez Mohideen, CEO of Laser Digital. “Talos and Laser Digital share a heritage in traditional financial markets and a common goal to simplify digital asset trading in a way that is familiar and trusted by institutions”

Laser Diigtal’s quant-driven liquidity provision and market-making capabilities are powered by a proprietary technology platform based on years of experience in systematic trading.

“We are thrilled to welcome Laser Digital to the Talos provider network, reinforcing our commitment to providing comprehensive trading solutions to institutional clients,” said Anton Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of Talos. “Laser Digital stands out in the digital asset landscape and will enrich the liquidity available to Talos clients looking to achieve best execution.”

Prior to this Laser Diigtal launched an Ethereum adoption fund.

eToro beats Binance to it and receives crypto broker license from Abu Dhabi ADGM

eToro beats Binance to it and receives crypto broker license from Abu Dhabi ADGM

The eToro platform which offers traders and investors more than 3,000 different financial assets, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, indices, currencies and commodities has announced receiving approval for Financial Services Permission from the regulatory body FSRA at ADGM ( Abu Dhabi Global Market) in UAE.

While eToro’s main research and development office is located in Tel Aviv, Israel, it has legal entities registered in the UK, US, Australia and Cyprus. The firm is regulated by the CySEC authority in the EU; it is authorized by the FCA in the UK, and by FinCEN in the United States, and by the ASIC in Australia. eToro boasts of 35 million customers across 100 countries.

In September 2022, eToro has recieved its in principle approval.

The approval will allow eToro to operate as a broker for securities, derivatives, and cryptoassets in the United Arab Emirates.

Yoni Assia, Founder and CEO of eToro, comments, “The approval of our operating license by ADGM is a key milestone in our continued global expansion. Abu Dhabi is increasingly recognized as a growing fintech hub, and we are excited to become part of this flourishing ecosystem. With our team in Abu Dhabi led by Jason Hughes, Senior Executive Officer for eToro Middle East and George Naddaf, GCC & MENA Regional Manager, we are looking forward to deepening our relationships in this dynamic market and to helping our UAE clients grow their financial knowledge and wealth as part of a global community of investors.”

Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief of Market Development at ADGM, added, “We are delighted to welcome eToro to ADGM. We are confident that ADGM’s dynamic ecosystem and progressive regulations will enable eToro’s vision, ADGM is the largest regulated jurisdiction of virtual assets in the MENA region and eToro’s participation will add to its vibrant and trusted ecosystem of virtual asset trading venues, global exchanges and service providers, and reinforce the UAE’s strategic value to global finance.”

eToro, M2, Rain have all beat Binance to it by recieving crypto broker exchange licenses from ADGM, while Binance currently has a crypto custodial license allowing it only to deal with institutional clients.