Binance crypto exchange announced on March 16 that it had been granted a license to operate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The firm’s presence in the Middle East has been accumulating lately and enhancing its presence, with a cryptocurrency service provider license in Bahrain, another Gulf market, coming in earlier in the week.
Under the Dubai virtual asset provider (VASP) license, Binance will be allowed to set up an office in the emirate and offer digital asset exchange services to pre-qualified investors and financial companies under the newly adopted regulatory guidelines.
Dubai is among the seven emirates comprising of the federation of the UAE. It currently accommodates 22 VASPs, with a brand new virtual asset exchange (VAX) license introduced in the emirate’s special economic zone. The first cryptocurrency firm to acquire the license was FTX which announced the development earlier in the week. Binance followed the lead of its competitors nearly immediately.
The move comes as part of Binance’s ascendant strategy in the Middle East. On March 15, the cryptocurrency exchange confirmed acquiring a license to operate in another Gulf nation, Bahrain. It will enable the world’s biggest exchange by volume to offer trading, portfolio management, and custody for Bahraini clients.
Both the UAE (and Dubai in particular) and Bahrain embrace an innovation-friendly strategy and compete for the status of the region’s most crypto-supportive jurisdiction. In January this year, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) managed to test JP Morgan’s crypto payment system.
The introduction of the new crypto law in the UAE in March 2022 was a major step in the federation’s continuing efforts to help the space to grow and protect the investors as the nation’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum put it himself.
