The Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) will become a crypto zone and regulator for cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets, the Dubai Media Office said Monday, as part of efforts to attract new businesses as regional economic competition heats up.
The DWTC’s move to create a specialized zone for virtual assets – including digital assets, products, operators and exchanges – is part of an effort by Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates’s federations of seven emirates, to create new economic sectors, the statement said.
“Strong standards for investor protection, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing, compliance and cross-border transaction tracking,” it said.
In September, the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority and the Dubai World Trade Center Authority (DWTCA) agreed on a framework that would allow the DWTCA to approve and license financial activities related to cryptocurrency assets.
In October, another Dubai free zone, DIFC, Dubai’s state-owned financial free zone and the main financial center of the Middle East, released the first part of a regulatory framework for digital tokens.
