Dubai World Trade Centre Plans to Become a Cryptocurrency Zone

With the crypto industry advancing in most areas of the world in terms of adoption and even regulation, there are now some regions that are competing in who would be more crypto-friendly. The Swiss crypto valley comes to mind as one example, while the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) now aims to become another.

According to recent information, Dubai’s World Trade Centre plans to become a brand new crypto zone, as well as a regulator for digital currencies and other, similar digital assets. The information was revealed earlier today by the Dubai Media Office, which added that the move is expected to also attract new businesses. This is especially becoming important now when the regional economic competition is beginning to grow quite rapidly.

From what is known, the DWTC is planning to create a specialized zone for virtual assets. This will include things like digital assets, operators, products, exchanges, and more. All of it will contribute to Dubai’s existing drive, as it already acts as one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates federation.

By adopting cryptocurrency, Dubai hopes to see the creation of new economic sectors, invite new businesses to come, create more jobs, and become a center of development of the crypto industry in the region.

Of course, in order for it to be safe and reliable, and to appeal to those who would participate in the creation of new businesses — or even the simple use of digital currencies — the plan is to significantly boost compliance standards. The statement says that there will be some rather rigorous standards for investor protection, as well as for combating criminal activities, including money laundering, financing of terrorism, and alike. Compliance and cross-border deal flow tracing will also see a lot of attention before the system goes live.

Regulatory framework was already in the works

This is not the first move that DWTC made in regards to crypto this year. Back in September 2021, the country’s Securities and Commodities Authority, as well as the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) reached an agreement regarding a brand new framework.

This framework’s purpose is to allow the DWTCA to approve and license financial activities related to the cryptocurrency industry and crypto assets. As such, it indicated that the DWTC was planning to do something with cryptocurrencies, which also caused a lot of speculation online.

Then, only a month later, in October 2021, another Dubai free zone, DIFC, Dubai’sfinancial free zone owned by the state, and also the major finance center of the entire Middle East, released the first portion of its regulatory framework meant to enable digital tokens.