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On Wednesday, Dubai has adopted its first law governing virtual assets and established a regulator to oversee the sector, its ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid said.
As regional economic competition heats up, the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates and the region’s financial capital, has been pushing for the development of virtual asset regulation to attract new forms of business. Another emirate, Abu Dhabi, has also been aggressive in becoming a crypto hub.
Virtual assets generally include cryptocurrencies and NFTs, but the announcement did not specify which assets would be covered by the new legislation.
The Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law aims to create an advanced legal framework to protect investors and provide international standards for virtual asset industry governance that will promote responsible business growth in the emirate, Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement.
“We established an independent authority to oversee the development of the best business environment in the world for the virtual assets in terms of regulation, licensing, governance and in line with local and global financial systems,” he said on Twitter.
Additionally, The ruler said, “The future belongs to whoever designs it… and today, through the virtual assets law, we seek to participate in the design of this new and rapidly growing global sector,”
By Abraham Aroloye
