FTX in the USA, sent a motion dismissing Chapter 11 case for its Dubai’s operation regulated under Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority (VARA) in UAE.  FTX VARA holds $4 million as security for the license of the total of $.45 million held by FTX Dubai in several accounts. As per Cointelegraph article, o n July 25, VARA confirmed to FTX Dubai management that such restricted cash would be released in the context of the liquidation of FTX Dubai, according to United Arab Emirates law: As stated in the motion, FTX Dubai established on February 11, 2022 under the laws of the United Arab Emirates to operate a crypto exchange. FTX Dubai is a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of Debtor FTX Europe AG. Then on July 12, 2022, FTX Dubai was granted a virtual asset service provider license (the “License”) from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (“VARA”). Notwithstanding the grant of the License, FTX Dubai did not offer any crypto-related services to investors in the United...

  Al Nawwar Investments RSC a Private Limited Company established in 2018 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, will be purchasing the remaining interest of Alameda research in Sequoia Capital venture capital firm, totaling $45 million. Al Nawwar is an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund according to a court document has entered into an agreement to execute a sale transaction within a short period of time. Al Nawwar according to the court document is already invested as well in Sequoia. The deal, worth $45 million, has the potential to be closed by March 31. However, it is subject to approval by the Delaware bankruptcy judge John Dorsey. The attempt to sell off its remaining interest in Sequoia Capital is a part of FTX’s attempts to liquidate its investments to pay off its debt to creditors. This is not the first time a sovereign Fund in Abu Dhabi purchases crypto related entities. Prior to this ADQ entered into an agreement to build a crypto mining entities in UAE. In an SEC Filing dated Januar...

  As HE Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications participated in the WEF session  'Finding the right balance for crypto'  announcing that the UAE has not licensed a single crypto exchange, concurrently the Dubai based Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA)   affirmed this on its website in its latest announcement. Al Olama told audiences at WEF, that the regulations in UAE are not light. There are extensive regulations at VARA. He affirmed, “ UAE has not issued a single licensed crypto exchange in UAE neither Binance nor FTX.” He explained that there is a four step process  and to date, “no one was able to onboard any customers even last week.” Concurrently VARA stated on its website, “VARA has not granted any operating permits to date this is a four stage licensing process” VARA’s website explained, that the VARA regime is founded on the principles on enforcing responsible market p...

  Bloomberg   just published a piece today November 27 th 2022 that is rocking the UAE crypto ecosystem and is one of the most read pieces on Bloomberg as of now. As per the article roughly 4 percent of FTX's global client base is in the UAE. This comes as no shock.  LaraontheBlock had noted in an article on November 11th 2022 that VARA had suspended FTX's crypto exchange license. The article at that time also noted that FTX MENA users brought in high revenues for FTX and was considered as the third biggest revenue region for FTX.  Ben Bartenstein the author writes in the Bloomberg article, “Several crypto hedge funds recently launched in the UAE had dumped all of their client money on FTX, forcing an insane struggle to exit the platform before halting withdrawals to avert their own collapse, according to those familiar with the matter.” The article also notes that roughly 4% of FTX’s global clients are based in the UAE, according to court filings in the comp...

  It is all over the news that UAE HayVN, regulated virtual asset trading platform is considering to bid for FTX Pay, FTX crypto exchange’s payment business. The reason the CEO of HayVN gives is that FTX Pay is valuable because of its relationships with establish companies such as MasterCard. Well is that a valid reason, given that most of these established companies have severed their relationships with FTX Pay, while it is actually Visa that was a partner and not MasterCard. UAE National newspaper came out with a story that UAE HayVN regulated by ADGM is interested in purchasing FTX Pay   to integrate it with HayVN Pay infrastructure according to statements made by Christopher Flinos, co-founder and chief executive of Hayvn. As he told the UAE National, “We are pleased to learn that some of the FTX businesses have solvent balance sheets, responsible management and valuable franchises. We are open to a discussion with their bankers, Perella Weinberg, as soon as they have...

  It all started with the FTX downfall and then Binance’s Co-Founder and CEO call for crypto exchanges to carry out proof of reserves. Since then crypto exchanges such as Binance and crypto.com have provided wallets addresses tied to company wallets while Nansen blockchain analytics firm is creating a display of crypto exchange proof of reserves dashboard that currently includes Binance, crypto.com, OkX, Kucoin, Deribit, Bitfinex, Github, and others. But what are locally homegrown crypto exchanges in MENA doing. Will they carry out proof of reserves, do they see it as the solution to bring trust back to crypto exchanges, and who has exposure to FTX?   MENA Crypto Exchanges and Proof of Reserves Bahrain based CoinMENA Talal Tabbaa and Dina Sama’an when asked by LaraontheBlock about if they will be doing proof of reserves stated, “This FTX news is a major setback for our industry and highlights the importance of regulation. This is why CoinMENA was established under the Ce...

  Kevin O’ Leary, nicknamed "Mr. Wonderful",  a Canadian businessman, entrepreneur, and television personality and an advocate of cryptocurrency stated that he recently became a UAE citizen because he wants to work freely in a region that has attracted investment by some of crypto’s heaviest hitters, including FTX, Binance and Crypto.com This came as he announced at Converge22 Blockchain and cryptocurrency conference that he was launching a Web3.0 investment fund called Cipher with the lead investor coming from the UAE. As he noted on stage, “We’ve got to get away from this speculative price of an asset here. We’ve got to find reasons that this technology gets embedded into the economy.” He went on to say, “I recently became a citizen of the United Arab Emirates to work freely in a region that has attracted investment by some of crypto’s heaviest hitters, including exchanges FTX, Binance and Crypto.com. The new all-Web3 fund’s lead investor comes from the United Ara...

  Blockchain.com announced on twitter that it has signed an MOU with Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority ( VARA)which they say means that soon both retail and institutional clients will be able to access Blockchain.com through Dubai UAE. The post goes on to add that crypto investors in Dubai and its surrounding regions will soon be able to experience Blockchain.com’s full suite of retail and institutional brokerage tools including custodial services, an exchange, and OTC crypto brokerage services for institutional clients. Blockchain.com also noted that they are opening a local office and will be hiring in the region. As they stated, “We are also actively pursuing a local Minimum Viable Product license, followed by a full license as soon as it becomes available.” Already Blockchain.com is licensed in the U.S. and several other European jurisdictions, and is actively pursuing a license in Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain and Ireland. Blockchain.com is valued at $14 bi...

  According to a recent report by FDI markets published in FDI Intelligence, UAE topped the list of countries with most crypto related FDI projects. UAE had a whopping 15 projects making it number one. It was followed by the USA which attracted 11 crypto projects; Brazil came in third with 7 projects, followed by UK, Lithuania at 4th place with 5 crypto projects, then Singapore in fifth place with 4 projects, followed by Canada, Australia, ( 3 projects each) and France, Sweden with 2 projects  Some 98 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were announced in crypto related activities in the first half of 2022, an increase of 145% from the same period in 2021. This number was higher than any pre-recorded database since 2016. It was also double the figure for the whole of 2021. Most of the companies who announced FDI projects in H1 of 2022 were those that involve crypto services, such as crypto exchanges, who set up new physical presence in foreign countries. This is true...

  VARA has made public all the entities that are currently licensed under its authority. The entities fall under various categories including crypto exchanges, DeFi custodians, DeFi asset managers, DeFi service providers, and DLT platforms.   As per VARA website in terms of native crypto exchanges, 13 crypto asset exchanges hold licenses. They include both international and regional players such as Binance, BitOasis, ByBit, CoinMENA, CoinMetro, Crypto.com, FTX (fully regulated with MVP license), GCEX Huobi, Midchains, Rain and OKx. In terms of DeFi custodians, VARA has registered Hex Trust, Komainu, Monstera and ZampFi Labs . Hex Trust as one example is a fully-licensed and insured provider of bank-grade custody for digital assets. Through their proprietary platform Hex Safe™, they deliver custody, DeFi, brokerage, and financing solutions for financial institutions, digital asset organizations, corporate and private clients. While ZampFi, is founded by: Amit Jain who wa...