Deep Knowledge Group, pioneers of big data analytics system and dashboard solutions have published a report on the top 100 tech investors in the UAE of which 4.6% of their investments are in blockchain technology while 2.9% are in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. The report makes several findings which include that 50% of the top 100 tech investors are venture capital entities with some of the well known blockchain investors including Crypto Oasis, Shurooq Partners, Seed Group, DisruptAD, Ghad Capital Parners, Mubadala and Ceras Ventures. More than 50% of the top Tech investors are based out of Dubai UAE with 29% of their investments going to the Middle East startups, 17% going to GCC based entities and 18% in Africa. 74% of the top 100 tech investors have invested less than $10 million per deal, while only 11% have invested over $50 million. In the last 12 months, Kube VC was the most active in terms of investments which totaled 48, followed closely by Maven

  In a recent press release, The Mining Future, a Bitcoin and crypto mining hosting services, has set up its headquarters in the UAE. The reason for this is the regulatory challenges being faced in China, USA, and EU as well as the rising costs. The company is also opening a datacentre in Kuwait. As per the release, The Mining Future has strategically established its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to capitalize on the country’s ambitious vision to become a global leader in the crypto industry. The UAE’s commitment to fostering crypto-friendly regulations, inviting startups and miners within its jurisdiction, and making significant investments to secure its position as a hub for crypto companies have been instrumental in The Mining Future’s decision to choose the UAE as its base. “We believe that the UAE’s proactive approach to regulation and its commitment to supporting the growth of the crypto industry aligns perfectly with our vision for The Mining Future,” said a

  A day after Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority issued a market notificiation stating that it had taken enforcement actions against BitOasis and advised investors and consumers that BitOasis’s MVP operational license is under review for not meeting mandated conditions, BitOasis replies back that this does not effect the services being offered to existing customers.  BitOasis was supposed to satisfy certain requirements within 30-60 days of receiving their MVP operational license prior to being permitted to undertake any VARA regulated market activity.  As such VARA is  exercising its authority to supervise and monitor compliance, assure fulfilment of prescribed conditions, impose remedial measures, and take necessary enforcement actions, including but not limited to holding BitOasis’ Licence status as non-operational. In response to this BitOasis replied , “ BitOasis  ongoing work to fulfill select conditions associated with its Operational MVP License with respect to servin

  After receiving is preliminary approval for a license, Bybit has jumped to the next stage with a minimum viable product preparatory license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority ( VARA). VARA placed ByBit on its public registery. This comes after global crypto exchange ByBit partnered with UAE’s DMCC freezone to offer financial support totaling $136,000 for new crypto businesses looking to set up in the DMCC crypto center. Bybit's pledge of financial support in the amount of $136,000 will be used to kickstart the growth journeys of 15 new Web3 companies at the DMCC Crypto Centre. Again Bybit also supported crypto and blockchain ecosystem in the UAE with the University of Sharjah. Bybit contributed $272.000 equivalent to 1 million AED to establish a scholarship fund to support 20 students to accelerate their academic and research career into fintech and blockchain at the American University of Sharjah. In March 2023 Bybit was one of the global crypto exchanges

  Swiss private Bank Julius Baer in a recent Bloomberg article announced that it will be expanding its crypto wealth management services in Dubai UAE. This will be the first digital assets service offering outside of Swtizerland by the bank. As per the article, Julius Baer’s subsidiary JBME will apply for a digital assets license variation on top of its existing permissions in the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DIFC). This would allow the entity to arrange and provide advice and custodial services on digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. This is not surprising given that in Julius Baer’s recent global wealth and Lifestyle report, it published that Dubai had risen to the seventh position demonstrating its remarkable success a a destination for the wealthy. The city has emerged as the preferred choice for companies and entrepreneurs seeking a foothold in the Middle East and is highly favoured by expatriates. By providing an attractive tax framew

    In a recent blog post by CoinW, a crypto exchange, the company unilaterally announced that it has received an initial approval from Dubai Virtual Asset regulatory Authority. According to CoinW this is a significant step in their global expansion which will lead to substantial investments in the UAE market and MENA region. As per the post the initial approval from VARA means that CoinW will be able to operate its regional business in Dubai within the newly announced regulatory framework and serve as its foundation for operation in the region. Sonia Shaw the Global Cooperation Director of CoinW based out of UAE, commented that the UAE is growing into an important global cryptocurrency hub, with Dubai being the first global economy to establish a dedicated regulatory authority for the virtual asset industry. It is foreseeable that the cryptocurrency business in the Middle East will thrive in the coming years. She states, “CoinW is optimistic about the potential of this city a

    Swiss based Buildrs, a blockchain, metaverse and Web3 infrastructure provider has announced that it has opened a location in the UAE and is embarking on its first project with its first customers. Buildrs is specialized in the virtual economy, blockchain, and gamification. Buildrs mission is to accelerate the adoption of Web3. Virtual assets, digital ownership, co-creation, and transparency are at the core of the experiences we build. The company develops a portfolio of products and use cases across various industries as real estate, hospitality, entertainment, and gaming. Buildrs empower them using the original platform, which covers all aspects of virtual assets, the virtual economy, and the Metaverse. Viktor Andreas, Founder and CEO of Buildrs stated in a LinkedIN video , “ We are very excited to be here in Dubai and continue our journey providing Web3 infrastructure which we have started three years ago in Swtizerland. UAE has created one of the most innovative and best

  The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] has announced a schedule of fees covering the issuance of no-objection certificates to proprietary traders, amendments or withdrawal of licence applications, and the submission of whitepapers for VARA review. All proprietary traders will require a no-objection certificate to carry out the activity of proprietary trading in or from the Emirate of Dubai. VARA shall confirm its evaluation of a firm’s activity through the firm’s commercial licensor and firms assessed as carrying out the activity of proprietary trading will be required to pay an annual NOC fee of AED 1,000. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no additional fee payable in relation to the requirement for mandatory registration applicable to large proprietary traders (under Regulation IV.A.7). Licensed firms wishing to amend details of their VARA licence will be charged a licence update fee of AED 500 per request. Licensed firms seeking to withdraw from Dubai and win

      UAE Cypher Capital is one of the investors in Concordia, a multi-chain risk and collateral management protocol for digital assets. Concordia closed a successful $4 million seed round in June, attracting significant investments from Tribe Capital, Kraken Ventures and UAE based Cypher Capital among other investors including Saison Capital.  Concordia’s vision is to create an interconnected, permissionless, and optimized DeFi ecosystem that promotes accessibility, affordability, and developer-friendly environments, ultimately unlocking the true transformative potential of DeFi. Concordia’s ground-breaking solution attracted the attention of leading Dubai VC Cypher Capital, who are building their portfolio into one of the leading web3 centric portfolios globally. Bill Qian, Chairman of Cypher Capital said “Concordia represents a significant milestone in the evolution of decentralized finance. As Chairman of Cypher Capital, I am thrilled to be part of this ground-breaking in

  Ukraine headquartered Hacken, a blockchain security auditor that aims to make Web3 a safer place, has partnered with Dubai Blockchain Center. As per a Hacken team tweet, “ This is a pivotal step towards accelerating blockchain adoption in Dubai and ensuring enhanced security in the tech scene.” Igor Hacken, Business Development Manager at Hacken tweeted , “Very proud moment for hackenclub expanding into the UAE joining the efforts of keeping the blockchain secure with Dubai Blockchain Center and   Dr. Marwan Alzarouni. Stay tuned to learn more about all of our contributions in to the rapidly growing region.” The   collaboration will also include providing   mentoring, education on blockchain security and contributing to the development of regulatory requirements for project licensing. Hacken offers various solutions including smart contract audit, proof of reserves, and others. In February 2023, Hacken researchers identified a bug in the Binance zkSNARK-based Proof of Reserve

    In a recent Forbes piece , it was noted that the virtual asset regulatory authority in Dubai expects to see several hundred virtual assets exchanges and service providers enter its licensing regime. This comes as CEOs of major crypto exchanges laud both UAE and Hong Kong as crypto hubs. As per Henson Orser CEO of VARA, speaking to Forbes, “VARA makes Dubai one of a handful of global jurisdictions implementing a mature framework for crypto and virtual assets. The VARA framework expects to see several hundred virtual asset exchanges and service providers in Dubai start to come into its licensing regime in 2023.” At the same time Hong Kong is also competing to get a piece of the crypto and digital asset market with the launch of new crypto licensing regime. In addition Hong Kong’s banking regulator is pressuring financial institutions including HSBC and Standard Chartered to take on crypto exchanges as clients. In parallel the Central Bank of UAE came out with its new guidanc

  It s no surprise that global crypto exchanges are flocking to the UAE, first it was Binance, then Kraken which left, then crypto.com, coinbase, and now the second biggest global exchange OKX. OKX announced unilaterally that it had received a minimal viable Preparatory license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority (VARA). In 2022 OKX had received its provisional license and opened offices at the Dubai World Trade Centre.  In the announcement they stressed that the UAE is a key strategic growth and business hub for OKX global with the company planning ot hire 30 staff locals and senior management. OKX also added that it plans to extend its nine-figure brand partnerships to the UAE with customer and fan-focused activations and activities. As per the announcement, once licensed to be operational, OKX Middle East will be able to extend its approved suite of duly regulated virtual assets activities and will provide spot, derivatives, and fiat services, including USD and A

  UAE money exchange company, Ferg ( Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group) CEO has stated that the company as well as other money xchanges will start to accept crypto after Central Bank regulations are out sometime at the end of 2023 or early 2024.  Adeeb Ahamed, Vice Chairmen of Ferg and managing director of LuLu exchange stated, “We are constantly in conversation with the Central Bank and waiting for the regulations. The Central Bank understands the use case of cryptos – CDBC (central bank digital currency). Cryptos is something that has definitely been taken up by the world. It needs to be part of the payment ecosystem. We are very sure that with the regulations coming out by the Central Bank, we will also start accepting.” Ahamed expects regulations around digital currency are likely to come out later this year or early next year. These statements were made on the sidelines of Ferg’s Techno meet 23 in Dubai UAE. Ahamed added that exchange houses could no longer be content

  Web3 tokenized indices investment startup, nealthy, which recently raised $1.3 million, has set up its headquarters in Dubai UAE. nealthy provides index tokens that replicate the structure of classic exchange-traded funds (ETFs). By storing multiple digital assets in on-chain vaults, building a diversified portfolio, and issuing an underlying indicator token. The first token will be called $nNFTS (which retains its real value through a peg to recognized blue-chip NFTs), nealthy is lowering the barriers to entry and opening the floodgates of digital asset investment to people around the world. The leadership team of CEO Ludwig Schroedl, CTO Zied Said, and CMO Tim Pascual said that Dubai-based operations would help expand to a crypto-friendly region renowned for its forward-looking strategies. “We are thrilled to announce our move to new corporate headquarters in Dubai. From the standpoint of Dubai’s robust investment market to its renown as a hub for innovation, tourism, collectib

  The UAE virtual asset regulatory authority has published its new virtual asset  rulebook for, the virtual assets transfer,  and settlement service.   This comes after the Central Bank of UAE published its guidelines for AML CFT compliance for financial institutions in relations to VASPs in the UAE. As published in the rulebook, VASPs providing VA Transfer and Settlement Services must comply with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements issued by the Central Bank of UAE which apply to the VASP, which pertain to the end-to-end enablement of payments, remittances and/or other related services as may be amended from time to time. As per the transfer and settlement service rulebook document, VASPs providing VA Transfer and Settlement Services must ensure that they comply with all legal and regulatory requirements for such services, inside and outside of the UAE. VASPs must ensure at all times that any transmission or transfer, and/or settlement being undertaken is permissible an

  UAE based Sabre56 a hosting provider and digital asset mining consultancy, has signed a hosting deal with U.S. based GEM Mining, an institutional-grade Bitcoin (BTC) mining company. As per the agreement, Sabre56 will initially host 4, 510 of GEM mining’s BTC miners in Sabre56’s new hosting facilities in Wyoming in USA. As per the announcement, half of the miners will come online in May, and the remaining miners in June. The deal follows Sabre56’s February announcement of its US$35 million funding agreements to build 150MW of Tier 0 data centers to support blockchain infrastructure. The Company is rapidly transitioning from consulting on mining projects to constructing and hosting its own facilities, and today’s news is the first among the waitlist of miners ready to take hosting services in the new and future facilities that are currently under construction. Phil Harvey, CEO of Sabre56, stated, “We are excited to welcome our new partner - GEM Mining. Our two companies are u

  Crypto.com, a global crypto exchange seems it will soon  become the second crypto exchange in Dubai UAE to receive MVP operational license after BitOasis.   VARA’s public register had listed CRO DAX Middle East better known as Crypto.com as having an MVP operational license authorized for specific activities and product types. As stated prior, Crypto.com is only authorized to serve qualified retail and institutional clients, but VARA website has since then removed it and now states it has an MVP preparatory license.  Sources close to the matter state that this is a sign that an operational license is soon to come. This would make crypto.com the first global exchange to receive an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) operational license from VARA.  This comes after the UAE Central Bank recently announced its AML (Anti Money Laundering) and FTC for financial institutions dealing with VASPs. Binance has also yet to receive its operational license and still holds the status of MVP preparato

  World Economic Forum report entitled “   Pathways to the Regulation of Crypto-Assets”   says UAE crypto asset regulatory framework is an agile one,   defining it as flexible, iterative and proactive which is beneficial because it is flexible, appreciate market maturity and ecosystem development. According to the WEF report, regulators that fall under this model include the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. FINMA’s token classification prescribes three simple categories: payment tokens, utility tokens and asset tokens. The framework acknowledges hybrid tokens and that a token’s classification may change over time. Following the first classification, FINMA later also published further guidance in Also included as per the report are the regulatory sandboxes in the EU and India in addition to the UAE.  Instead of prescribing and enforcing rules, agile regulation adopts a responsive, iterative approach, acknowledging that policy and regulatory development is no longer l

  Japanese Nomura Bank’s, Komainu, a regulated digital asset custody provider, has received an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) operational license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). This is one step from receiving the full operational license. This also follows HexTrust another digital asset custodian who received the license prior. Under the license Komainu will be able to offer both custodial and staking services. Komainu had received provisional regulatory approval from VARA in July 2022 allowing it to commence operational readiness even as the application goes through the warranted due diligence. Komainu acts as key gatekeeper to institutions gaining exposure to the digital asset industry with the provision of secure and regulated digital asset custody services for blockchain and beyond. Over the years, Komainu has established itself as one of the leading digital asset custody providers for institutional clients, providing the same safeguards and protection

  The U.S. the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 22 individuals and 104 entities operating in 20 countries for their role in facilitating Russian sanctions evasion, including John Desmond Hanafin, Founder of Dubai based Huriya Private, a fintech firm, who has an active Ethereum address included as an identifier on his SDN List entry. Hanafin is the founder and CEO of Huriya Private FZE LLE, a Dubai-based financial services company also sanctioned today for its role in funneling Russian funds into the UAE.  According to OFAC’s press release, Hanafin in his role at Huriya has been working since the outset of the Russia-Ukraine War to help Russian nationals protect their assets from sanctions. Much of this activity has involved helping Russian nationals move their money into UAE bank accounts and obtain fraudulent passports.  As per Chainalysis blog , John Hanafin’s on-chain transactions may shed light on Huriya’s Russian sanctions evasion operation