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 ne...

  The 2022 Worldwide crypto readiness report looks into the number of crypto ATMs, legislations, taxes surrounding cryptocurrencies, as well as the number of blockchain start-ups and the level of interest in crypto in order to find the most crypto ready countries. The 2022 report revealed that the UAE ranks third globally when it comes to the number of blockchain start-ups. The UAE has close to 120 blockchain start-ups or 1.2 blockchain startups per 100,000 people. As per the 2022 report, Hong Kong was number one on the list in terms of crypto readiness, The country was crowned the most crypto-ready as it ranked in the top three for three of the categories looked at, including the number of blockchain start-ups per 100,00 people and the number of crypto ATMs proportional to the population. Hong Kong also doesn’t tax capital gains on crypto, making it appealing to investors. Next up was the United States; the US took second place thanks to the huge number of crypto ATMs in the ...