The desert of UAE now has two crypto Blockchain oases, plural for Oasis

The desert of UAE now has two crypto Blockchain oases, plural for Oasis

The Government of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) will be launching the RAK Digital Assets Oasis free zone dedicated to digital and virtual asset companies for non regulated entities. So the UAE now has two crypto Blockchain Oases, one in DMCC for regulated blockchain and crypto entities and one in RAK for non regulated. The new oasis will be launched in Q2 of 2023. 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid bin Abdullah Al Qasimi, Chairman of RAK ICC and Chairman of RAK Digital Assets Oasis said,  “We are proud to further the UAE’s position as a primary destination for innovation with the launch of RAK Digital Assets Oasis. We are building the free zone of the future for the companies of the future. As the world’s first free zone solely dedicated to digital and virtual asset companies, we look forward to supporting the ambitions of entrepreneurs from around the world with our progressive, supportive, and quick-to-adapt approach, and our innovation-enabling environment.”

Making the announcement, Dr. Sameer Al Ansari, CEO of RAK ICC and CEO of Digital Assets Oasis, said: “I am privileged to help implement the forward-thinking vision of the leadership of Ras Al Khaimah to enable, foster, and promote innovation in new and emerging sectors of the future. With the UAE’s established reputation as an innovation hub, RAK Digital Assets Oasis delivers a truly unique offering to global entrepreneurs bringing together an unmatched combination of accessibility and liveability, supported by Ras Al Khaimah’s business-friendly infrastructure, progressive policies, and an international lifestyle offering.” 

RAK Digital Assets Oasis will be a purpose-built, true innovation-enabling free zone for non-regulated activities in the virtual assets sector. It is intended to be the only free zone in the world solely dedicated to digital and virtual assets service providers innovating in new and emerging sectors of the future including metaverse, blockchain, utility tokens, virtual asset wallets, NFTs, DAOs, DApp, and other Web3-related businesses. RAK Digital Assets Oasis will open for applications in the second quarter of 2023.

“We look forward to welcoming the world’s brightest Web3 minds with their most disruptive ideas that uncover new approaches to creating a better future. We are committed to empowering the next generation of global entrepreneurial talent to build transformative solutions and create impact, while shaping the future of businesses and economies,” added Dr. Al Ansari.

RAK Digital Assets Oasis’ unique lifestyle proposition will support companies with robust, innovation-enabling adoption frameworks, advisory and professional services, hybrid workspaces, accelerators and incubators, sandboxes, access to funding, and an environment that encourages entrepreneurs to imagine, create, and evolve.

The free zone aligns with the UAE’s position as a primary destination for innovation. RAK Digital Assets Oasis will be a remote-work friendly, globally connected destination for digital and virtual asset companies building innovative business models for the future that will be well positioned to tap into the region’s emerging markets.

Prior to this DMCC had embraced the Crypto Oasis ecosystem within its free zone in Dubai UAE. It has also incorporated the DMCC Crypto Center dedicated to crypto and Blockchain entities. So today RAS Al Khaimah is yet another blockchain and crypto oasis in the desert.

Oman announces upcoming launch of Virtual asset regulatory framework

Oman announces upcoming launch of Virtual asset regulatory framework

The Oman Capital Market Authority has announced that it will  establish the Virtual Assets Regulatory Framework to regulate and develop the market in the Sultanate of Oman.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA), which regulates and develops the Sultanate’s financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, is planning to establish the new proposed regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). 

As per the press release, this move highlights the Sultanate’s growing recognition and the CMA’s proactive approach to develop the digital assets and fintech industry in Oman.

This important initiative in Oman was announced during a public stakeholders engagement session held at the CMA recently and being led by the CMA. By regulating and developing the virtual assets industry, the CMA aims to provide an alternative financing and investment platform for issuers and investors, while mitigating the risks associated with this asset class.

The CMA is in the process of defining a comprehensive and facilitative regulatory framework, which will include a new regulation to cover all virtual assets activities, a licensing framework for all VASP categories and a supervisory framework to identify, assess, and mitigate ongoing risks. The aim of this new regulation is to establish a market regime for virtual assets that includes rules to prevent market abuse, including through surveillance and enforcement mechanisms.

The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities such as crypto assets, tokens, crypto exchanges, and initial coin offerings, among others. The regulation for virtual assets in Oman is important, as it will provide a clear and secure framework for the growth of the virtual assets industry. The move towards digitalization and the adoption of virtual assets aligns with the Sultanate’s Vision 2040 of a digitally transformed economy and financial sector, while attracting foreign investments into Oman.

The CMA has also appointed XReg Consulting Limited, an international policy and regulatory consultancy specializing in virtual assets, and Said Al-Shahry and Partners, Advocates & Legal Consultants (SASLO), an Omani law firm, to advise and assist the CMA. This collaboration brings together expertise in policy, law and technology to assist in the creation of a comprehensive regulatory framework for virtual assets in Oman.

Back in  June 2022 Oman Capital Market Authority  issued its new Securities Law (46/2022) which  stipulates that the authority can “Agree to application of technologies, virtual digital investments or any products or services in the areas related to the provisions of this law, as set out in the Regulation.”

Oman was only one of the first countries in the region to allow crypto mining , mining its first Bitcoin in December 2022.    While The Oman Water and Waste Water Services Company ( OWWSC), member of Nama Group, trialed a stablecoin linked to the Oman Riyal. The company signed an MOU with Oman based Digital Digits, the creators of Easy coins and Connected Chains to trial “ Hasalah” a stablecoin Wallet.   

Where is UAE Central Bank 10th initiative for digital asset payments regulation for its upcoming CBDC and digital asset payment providers?

Where is UAE Central Bank 10th initiative for digital asset payments regulation for its upcoming CBDC and digital asset payment providers?

The UAE Central Bank announced on Sunday 12th of February 2023 its nine initiatives for what it calls its financial infrastructure transformation program, the FIT program that will enable the Central Bank of the UAE to be among the top central Banks globally. One of the nine initiatives is the launch of a CBDC for internal and cross border payments, but where is the 10th, the one that will actually put the UAE on the map as the digital payment hub. Where is the UAE’s Central Bank digital asset payment and remittance regulation or rulebook?

So the UAE Central Bank has finally openly stated that it will be launching a CBDC ( Central Bank Digital Currency) for not only cross border payments but also UAE internal national payments. As per the release, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be utilized for cross-border payments and domestic usage in order to address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and help drive innovation for domestic payments respectively.

Ofcourse the announcement that they will launch a CBDC is not surprising given the work the UAE has been doing in the realm of CBDCs over the years. 

In 2019, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) piloted a wholesale CBDC project with Saudi Central Bank named of “ABER.” A final report was published in 2020, which showed that “the distributed ledger technology would enable central banks to develop payments systems at both local and cross-border levels.”

More recently, the CBUAE, along with the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre and the central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand and China,  implemented Project mBridge, a joint initiative experimenting with cross-border payments using a custom-built common platform based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) upon which multiple central banks can issue and exchange their respective central bank digital currencies.

In my previous blog article published on December 15th 2022, I alluded to the fact that the UAE Central Bank could be close to issuing its own CBDC.

At the end of January 2023, the UAE Central Bank and Central Bank of India signed an MOU to collaborate in the payments sector; fintech solutions and experimenting with a CBDC to facilitate cross border transactions.

The Central Bank of UAE as explained in the press release wants to become the financial and digital payment hub and a center of excellence for innovation and digital transformation.

H.E. Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said: “The FIT Program embodies the directions and aspirations of our wise leadership towards digitizing the economy and developing the financial sector. We are proud to be building an infrastructure that will support a thriving UAE financial ecosystem and its future growth. H.E added: “We will work with our partners to implement the Program, achieve its goals, accelerate the adoption of digital services in the financial sector and attract the best talent.”

The Program comprises implementation of nine key initiatives  mentioned below:

 

 

1.  Card Domestic Scheme: The UAE’s first unified, secured, and efficient card payment platform to facilitate the growth of e-commerce and digital transactions in the country.

2.  eKYC:  A  secure  and  user-friendly  platform  to  facilitate  non-face-to-face customer on-boarding and on-going customer due diligence.

3. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): CBDC for both cross-border payments and domestic usage in order to address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and help drive innovation for domestic payments respectively.

4.  Open Finance: Driving innovation and competitiveness as well as collaboration in the financial services sector through inter-connectivity and inter-operability among all players and institutions.

5. Supervisory Technology (SupTech): Advanced SupTech supporting the regulatory and supervisory processes.

6. Innovation Hub: A collaborative platform for engagement, research and development for Fintechs.

7.  Instant Payments Platform: A secure, efficient, and robust payment platform that will support financial inclusion and enable a cashless society through digital payments.

8.  Financial Cloud: A secure, resilient, scalable, and reliable sovereign financial infrastructure.

9. Excellence & Customer Experience: Supporting exceptional customer experiences and fostering a culture of excellence across the financial sector.

 

But where is the 10th most important initiative? Where is the initiative that actually will allow the UAE to be a digital payments hub? Where is the digital asset payment regulation guideline, the one that VARA in its recent announcement of regulations didn’t cover? Where is the digital asset payments initiative that the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority didn’t cover?

Who will regulate digital asset payments and remittance ecosystem if the Central Bank of UAE doesn’t? It would be hard to imagine the UAE as a hub for digital payments without digital asset payments as well. It will be hard to imagine UAE as a hub for crypto and blockchain companies if there is no regulation governing the crypto, virtual assets payment ecosystem.

Sources close to the matter told LaraontheBlock, ” The nine initiative announced today are only related to the financial infrastructure. There are other initiatives being worked on.” 

I wonder if it is prudent to announce nine initiatives and pass over the one most important initiative that everyone is waiting for. But it seems that the Central Bank are working on other initiatives and hopefully digital assets as a payment method are one of them.

Bahrain EazyPay and Binance follow CoinMENA’s lead offering crypto payments in real estate

Bahrain EazyPay and Binance follow CoinMENA’s lead offering crypto payments in real estate

Bahrain real estate developer Bin Faqeeh Real estate Investment Company announced that clients can buy apartments or houses using cryptocurrencies. Bin Faqeeh will be offering crypto payment services with Bahrain financial service provider EazyPay POS terminals.

Binance Co-Founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao tweeted about Bin Faqeeh Real Estate Company accepting Crypto Payments via Binance Pay through Eazy Financial Services. EazyPay and Binance had signed a partnership in Q4 2022 to offer crypto payment services to EazyPay’s 5000 plus POS terminals.

Prior to this Bahrain CoinMENA crypto broker partnered with Carlton Real Estate, a Bahrain-based real estate agency, allowing clients to buy real estate property using crypto assets. Under the partnership, Carlton real estate would accept stablecoins like USDT and USDC.

The UAE as well has been offering clients the ability to pay for real estate in cryptocurrencies. In May 2022 UAE Properties developer Nakheel and Abu Dhabi based crypto exchange Hayvn partnered to offer crypto payment options for Nakheel clients. Nakheel clients are able to pay for their rent, service fee, and real estate purchases in cryptocurrency.

Other real estate developers in UAE also are offering crypto payment services, such as DAMAC, SAMENA developers and more. In March UAE based Real estate and industry experts estimated that crypto payments for Dubai real estate increased by 300 percent in 2022. Majority of buyers are using stablecoins such as Tether, USDT as well as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Even UAE Property Consultancy firm, Your place partnered with Utrust, a cryptocurrency payment solution designed to modernize the finance and payments industry offers clients the ability to pay for properties in Dubai UAE using cryptocurrencies. Recently Utrust is now enabling crypto payments for luxury hotels in the UAE. BM Hotels & Resorts luxury hotel chain is accepting digital currencies using Utrust.

US Marathon Digital Holdings to jointly build $406 million crypto mining facility in UAE

US Marathon Digital Holdings to jointly build $406 million crypto mining facility in UAE

In an SEC Filing dated January 27th 2022, USA based Marathon digital Holdings, a digital asset mining entity, announced that it had entered into a shareholder’s agreement with FSI ( FS Innovation), the BTC mining subsidiary of UAE ADQ a sovereign fund,  to form an Abu Dhabi, ( ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Markets) based company.

As per the filing, the joint UAE ADGM based company will establish and operate one or more mining facilities for digital assets. The business entity will be in the field of digital asset/crypto mining.

The initial phase will consist of two digital asset mining sites comprising 250 MW (megawatts) in Abu Dhabi UAE.

Marathon Holdings will own 20% of the joint company in UAE only. The cost of the project will be $406 million.

This new comes after UAE based Phoenix Technology which embarked on establishing a $2 billion crypto-mining farm in the UAE,  announced in November 2022, that the biggest crypto mining project in the region will be completed in the next six months, Q2 of 2023.  The press release at the time noted, “The project will be finalized within six months, giving the region a taste of technological advancement and development.”

In February 2022 Phoenix had announced it was part of the group of entities developing the UAE crypto mining farm in an interview with well renowned crypto and Blockchain lawyer Irena Heaver.

Crypto mining is an integral part of the development of crypto economies, and the MENA region is opening up to exactly these economies. Already the GCC and MENA region has become an attractive destination for crypto mining. 

During Binance Week 2022, Khalifa AlJaziri, AlShehhi, Commercial Affairs Regulatory Sector Projects advisor at the Ministry of Economy in UAE, claimed that the Dubai World Trade Center Authority (DWTCA) would be legislating the crypto mining sector. He stated, “We are setting the guidelines and rules needed to regulate crypto mining within this crypto framework.

The UAE is not the only country that has shown interest in crypto mining. Oman Investment Authority (OIA) took part in a $350mn equity round in Crusoe Energy Systems. The US firm helps oil and gas producers cut flaring by using stranded natural gas to power cryptocurrency mining. Crusoe systems set up operations in Oman as well. 

Former CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay joins Fasset digital asset exchange for MENA

Former CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay joins Fasset digital asset exchange for MENA

Fasset digital asset exchange has appointed the former CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay as General Manager for MENA region. Fasset digital asset exchange seeks to empower the next billion with new ways to own connect and share digital assets.

Khalid brings a track record of success as the former CEO and board member of Bahrain FinTech Bay, where he led the development and growth of Bahrain FinTech Bay into a leading fintech hub in the Middle East. Prior to his appointment, Khalid held various leadership positions in the financial services industry, focused on investment banking, market risk management and technology, where he was previously Vice President at J.P. Morgan and Barclays Capital in London.

Fasset announced a partnership with Mastercard, which has chosen the company for its Start Path program to promote the adoption of crypto and blockchain technology, the firm announced on Nov. 3.

“We are thrilled to welcome Khalid to the Fasset team and are confident that his experience and leadership will be invaluable as we continue to drive innovation and growth in the digital asset space” said Daniel Ahmed, COO, Fasset.

Khalid added, “I am thrilled to be joining Fasset at this pivotal time in the evolution of finance through digital assets. I look forward to driving our vision and building out the web3 ecosystem by creating opportunities for digital asset ownership, utilization, and ultimately empowering the region..”

UAE emirate offers Soul NFT Plaques to honor partners

UAE emirate offers Soul NFT Plaques to honor partners

UAE’s government of Sharjah has honored its partners with the first Soul NFT (Non Fungible Token) plaque. Sharjah became the first in the world to introduce NFTs with SBT technology as its Higher Committee of the Government of Sharjah at GITEX Global 2022 honored the participants, supporting entities, departments, and media outlets for their contribution in the success of Sharjah’s participation in the global event with Soul NFT plaques.

Sheikh Saud bin Sultan Al Qasimi – Chairman of the Higher Committee for the Government of Sharjah at GITEX Technology Week 2022, Director of the Sharjah Digital Office, gifted the supporting entities non-fungible tokens digital trophies (NFTs) using Soul Bound Tokens (SBTs) technology, replacing traditional appreciation plaques for the first time ever in the world. A trophy is an NFT stored in a digital ledger, whose identity can be verified via the blockchain system.

SBT’s are digital identity tokens that represent the traits, features, and achievements that make up a person or entity. SBTs are issued by “Souls”, which represent blockchain accounts or wallets, and cannot be transferred or sold.

Sheikh Saud bin Sultan Al Qasimi said: “Based on the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, our efforts continue to focus on the development of sustainable growth across all sectors. In line with the technology evolution that we are witnessing in all aspects of daily life, we have – for the first time ever in the world – replaced traditional appreciation plaques with sustainable digital assets to honor our partners”.

UAE HAYVN Subsidiary, HAYVN Asset Management launches crypto Index Fund

UAE HAYVN Subsidiary, HAYVN Asset Management launches crypto Index Fund

HAYVN, regulated by UAE Abu Dhabi Global Markets, CIMA, and AUSTRAC has launched its first HAYVN 20 Index Fund a high risk fund that includes crypto assets.

According to their website the fund will include the top 20 digital assets by market capitalization with a maximum weighting of 10% for any asset to increase diversification. It is a broad based index strategy with monthly rebalancing.

The Fund will be managed by HAYVN Asset Management, a British Virgin Island Approved Manager, 100% subsidiary of the HAYVN group.

The primary objective of the HAYVN 20 Segregated Portfolio is to deliver long term capital growth by investing 100% of fund assets within the crypto asset class. The fund is suitable for medium to long-term investors seeking diversified exposure to the broader crypto asset market, obtained through holding the top 20 crypto assets by market capitalisation. The fund aims to provide investors with enhanced returns relative to a pure market-cap weighted top 20 strategy. Investors should expect high levels of volatility and potential drawdown of their investment.

The fund follows a passive rebalancing strategy. The fund is invested in the top 20 crypto assets by market capitalisation, with monthly rebalancing. A maximum component weighting of 10% is utilised to prevent any single asset, and thus single source of risk, from dominating the portfolio. As such, the fund is relatively overexposed to lower market cap assets in the top 20, and less exposed to assets where the 10% asset cap is binding, such as Bitcoin.

According to HAYVN CEO, Christopher Flinos, ” With HAYVN20 we are providing investors with a diversified, low cost and regulated solution to invest in one of the biggest investment trends since the inception of the internet. We believe that risk is fully priced into currenct market conditions, and we want our customers to be able to participate in what we expect will be a positive long-term trend”

A broad based index strategy with monthly rebalancing is a low cost way to capture the long-term growth in digital assets and gain exposure to emerging trends without the inherent manager biases of active asset management.

In addition HAYVN Founder in an interview recently announced that they were preparing for a Series B Funding round in mid-2023 to raise up to $20 million to further scale the business and spin off HAYVN Pay.

HAYVN Co-Founder Christopher Flinos in a recent interview stated that HAYVN is preparing for a series B funding round in the second half of this year and aims to raise up to $20 million, which it will use to further scale the business and potentially spin off Hayvn Pay.

“We are working through that at the moment and are hopeful that we will be able to spin off Hayvn Pay quite quickly, have it on its own and then potentially look at whether the series B is done at the Hayvn level, or whether it is done at the Hayvn Pay [level],” Mr Flinos says.

Japanese Fintech Blockchain firm and Al Fardan Ventures join hands to digitize real estate investment in MENA

Japanese Fintech Blockchain firm and Al Fardan Ventures join hands to digitize real estate investment in MENA

Japanese Fintech firm and UAE Al Fardan ventures have partnered to launch a blockchain real estate investment platform.  Japanese Fintech startup, Canaan Advisors and UAE Al Fardan Ventures have partnered to introduce Canaan Advisors’ Zenihub platform, a blockchain blockchain-based real estate investment platform that focuses on fractionalizing properties in emerging markets to the UAE. 

The venture will be led by Mr. Mohammed Ebrahim Al Fardan, a global technology leader from the Arab world with more than 33 years of experience, spanning from major multinational technology firms to investment firms, and with a strong and solid global network in gaming, artificial intelligence, Mixed Reality, FinTech, Blockchain, Internet-of-Things, and metaverse.

Tokumasa Yamashita, Founder of Canaan Advisors, stated, “There are lots of attractive real estate investment opportunities in the MENA region that are only accessible by a small group of extremely wealthy investors. We look forward to unlocking these investment opportunities and making them accessible to people of all income levels!” said Yamashita.

Yamashita adds, “Our vision is to make high-yielding real estate investment opportunities in emerging markets easily accessible to anyone. Our partnership with Mohammed E. Al Fardan enables us to enter the MENA market and expand our global footprint, and we are very excited about this opportunity

Said Mohammed E. Al Fardan explained, “Digitizing Real Estate assets has always been an important element in my plans, those who read my articles will remember that. It is time to make the MENA region a major global player in the industry. We will be revolutionizing the real estate investment market enabling everyone to invest in real estate project by digitizing the assets.”

The UAE enacts new commercial law allowing virtual asset businesses to set up onshore

The UAE enacts new commercial law allowing virtual asset businesses to set up onshore

The UAE Cabinet recently updated some of its legislation which  included those pertaining to virtual businesses and virtual assets. The UAE is considering the provision of services and the conduct of business and activities related to virtual assets and virtual businesses based on its new commercial law.  As such businesses dealing either virtually or with virtual assets are considered commercial businesses within the UAE as on shore businesses. This comes after the UAE Cabinet of Ministers issued its decision on virtual assets regulation in December 2022 and which will come into effect in January.

As per UAE’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, Abdullah Al Saleh, developing the business sector is a strategic goal for the state, and providing a legislative environment that stimulates its growth is a top priority.

His comments were made during a media briefing, organized by the Ministry of Economy, to introduce Federal Decree Law No. 50 of 2022 regarding commercial transactions in the country, with the participation of Ibrahim Al Zaabi, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability, and Dr. Maryam Al Suwaidi, CEO of the Securities and Commodities Authority.

As such the UAE Ministry of Economy has issued a new commercial transactions where the most prominent features include reduction of the age of legal capacity to practice business to 18 years, establishment of a legal  reference for commercial transactions for banking institutions to stimulate investment,  support to Islamic banking, amends the provisions related to establishment, regulation of financial markets, and finally support to businesses in tech sector especially digital field.

Al Saleh stated, “ The new law aims to support the commercial interests of the state and comply more with international trade,  strengthen the position of the UAE on the global trade map, keep abreast of international best practices in commercial transactions, and ensure the principles of transparency and clarity in them, as well as raise the country’s classification on relevant economic competitiveness indicators, including the Global Competitiveness Report, and the Ease of Doing Business Report. In addition the new law aims at accelerating the transformation of digital applications further in the business sector in the country, and strengthening the position of the UAE as a center for business activities in the areas of technology, innovation and sectors of the new economy, and reviewed the most prominent provisions and outputs of the new law, which confirms State’s proactive approach.”

The UAE will be creating a virtual business system, the commercial store and commercial transactions, through the means of modern technology, and those that take place in virtual environments, in addition to those provided in realistic standard ways, as well as considering the provision of services and the conduct of business and activities related to virtual assets as virtual businesses in accordance to UAE’s Council of Ministers Legislation regulating virtual assets and their service providers.

This includes

• Giving authenticity to the virtual business so that the same provisions applied to it with respect to similar ones presented realistically.

• Giving legitimacy and authenticity to real and virtual commercial books.

• Selling by public auction of movables instead of used movables and making bids available through a licensed electronic platform or hall or through various modern technology means.

 Dr. Mariam Al-Suwaidi, CEO of the Securities and Commodities Authority, added, “The most noteworthy provisions presented by the new law deal with the securities sector in addition to the fact that the Authority is to consider the business of virtual assets as a commercial business, and this provision gives a privilege to the virtual assets sector. With the issuance of the new law it has been confirmed that businesses related to virtual assets are considered commercial businesses. Therefore, the provisions of this law and other related laws will apply to those who will deal in the activities of this sector, and benefit from the privileges included in the new law, such as the provisions regulating the trader and allowing new age groups to practice business, noting that the Cabinet of Ministers already issued its regulating decision last December for virtual assets, and will enter into force mid-January.” ( Note no public information is available on the Cabinet of Ministers decision for virtual assets.)

The announcement comes in parallel with the recent announcement by the Abu Dhabi based crypto and Blockchain associate to set up a Regulators Committee to help drive change and learn lessons in the wake of last year’s FTX exchange collapse. Jehanzeb Awan of the Middle East, Africa and Asia CBA (MEAACBA) states, “It is pivotal for the industry to help the investing public understand the opportunity and corresponding risks that come with investing in cryptocurrencies. The importance of holistic regulation to minimize regulatory arbitrage is key to reducing the impact of the recent events as well as bringing confidence back to the industry.”

The MEAACBS said its board is setting up a Regulators Committee which aims to bring together the key regulators in the regions covered by the association, to work together in building regulatory regimes that allow for effective oversight of the crypto industry.