For the first time ever Abu Dhabi Finance week organized by ADGM in association with Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) will be holding Crypto Abu Dhabi on November 16 th 2022. Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW)’, is set to run between 14th November 2022 and 18th November 2022. As per the event synopsis, Crypto Abu Dhabi in partnership with Roland Berger, will explore the next era of Digital Assets as the technologies experience the growing pains involved with shaping true innovation. The agenda of the conference will focus on the underlying blockchain and cryptography technologies that drive the innovation, and why financial products are served by their application. The event will also focus on how major global financial institutions are now developing digital asset strategies, and how the tokenization of private market assets will open up a new multi-trillion dollar democratized opportunity for investors globally, and why regulation is on the horizon. Some re

  Binance crypto exchange saw a 49 percent growth in the number of users from MENA region in 2022. As per the news this reflects the growing appetite for virtual assets. In addition Binance has grown its employee base in Dubai alone to over 400 employees.   This comes as Binance recently obtained its Minimal Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) which allows the company to offer a range of approved virtual asset related services to suitably qualified retail and institutional investors in Dubai. Richard Teng, Regional Head of MENA at Binance, comments, “It is extremely encouraging to see this level of growth in the MENA region, not just in terms of user adoption but also in terms of headcount and new employees in our own teams, particularly in the UAE. We are witnessing rapid adoption of blockchain technology in the region and we believe there is huge potential for the UAE to soon become a leading virtual asset hub.” He adds, “We’ve go

  Binance Pay is once again being used in the UAE to buy products using cryptocurrencies. UAE based Bikeera, a retailer for bicycles, scooters, electric mobility vehicles has teamed up with Binance Pay to offer virtual asset payment services. Bikeera says the move aims to help reduce GHG emissions, carbon footprint and improve the health and lifestyle of GCC residents. Purchasers can pay in BNB, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Already Majid Al Futtaim, Virtuzone, Palazzo Versace, EazyPay and others are using Binance Pay in the region. Anthony Boukather, CEO of Bikeera, stated, “Bikeera aims to provide sustainable mobility alternatives that promote a healthy lifestyle and a better planet. By partnering up with Binance, we are giving more flexibility to customers in terms of payment methods. We are proud to have been selected as one of the first companies in this program, and would like to congratulate Binance on their recent announcement about receiving the MVP license from Dubai’s Virtual

  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 Arab Em

  Bahrain EazyPay, a payments solution provider,  has partnered with Binance's Binance Pay to launch a regulated and approved crypto payments service offering in the Kingdom. Nayef Tawfiq Al Alawi, Founder, MD & CEO of Eazy in Bahrain stated on LinkedIn ,   “Now you can pay in stores with any preferred Cryptocurrency using Binance App.   A special thanks goes to Central Bank of Bahrain, Binance and Eazy Financial Services B.S.C (Closed) teams."  ‎ ‏ Eazy Financial Services “EazyPay”, a  Bahraini financial institute specialized in Point-of-Sale (POS) & Online Payment Gateway Acquiring services licensed & regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, has partnered with Binance, to offer crypto   payments using “Binance Pay” over “EazyPay”   across 5000+ Point-of- Sale (POS) Terminals & Online Payment gateways in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Merchants such as ‎ ‏ Lulu Hypermarket, Sharaf DG and Al Zain Jewellery as well as local favorites such as Jasmi’s will now b

  Binance, crypto exchange has received its Minimal Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). Local bank clients approved by VARA will be able to utilize the Binance platform. Users will benefit from higher consumer protection levels because Binance is now a fully regulated platform in Dubai. Binance is now able to open a client money account with a UAE local bank and provide services to qualified customers. Services include, virtual asset exchange services, conversion between virtual assets and fiat currencies, transfer of virtual assets, custody and management of virtual assets, virtual token offering and trading services and virtual assets payments and remittance services His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Chairman of VARA said, “We are pleased to have Binance licensed to operate within the VARA MVP Programme. The VARA regime aims to strike an effective balance between value creation and risk mitigation, enabling open market innovation

  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 billio

  Dubai ultra-luxury Hotel Palazzo Versace is now accepting crypto payments through Binance. The hotel will allow guests to pay for dining, stays, and spa experiences using cryptocurrencies. The hotel located in Jaddaf Waterfront has partnered with Binance, cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, to offer the guests the possibility to settle payments in various cryptocurrencies such as BNB, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. These transactions will take place through Binance payment gateway. Starting from 7th September, the hotel will accept crypto for room stays, restaurants, meetings, and events, all the guests will have the option to pay at the property using the Binance application. The next phase, online payment integration, will go live soon after. Palazzo Versace Dubai will also accept cryptocurrency payments on their eCommerce platforms, which include Gift Vouchers and Flower Shop. The Managing Director of Palazzo Versace Dubai and founder of Palazzo Hospitality, Monther Darwish comm

  On August 23 rd  2022,  Michael Miebach the CEO of MasterCard posted  on LinkedIn,   “We can unlock the full potential of blockchain technology when we make it easier to access and easier to use. One way we do that is by bringing crypto to everyday purchases. To make that a reality, we’re working with Binance to let people use their crypto to make purchases at 90 million stores that accept MasterCard. We are launching this work in Argentina with plans to expand from there.”  It seems that the expansion will be in the MENA region and come very soon. So as mentioned, MasterCard and Binance will start offering customers the opportunity to pay for items with their Bitcoin and BNB, using a Binance Card. A prepaid card, that bridges crypto and fiat currencies, in Argentina. The plan is to then roll out this offer to include 90 million stores worldwide. The Binance Card can be used by anyone with a valid national ID to pay bills and make purchases with the card, using their Bitcoin and

  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 of UAE w

  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 was previou

  This week several entities each one in a different sector announced that they have become the first in their fields to accept crypto payments. Writing this piece I get a feeling that this will soon become common practice. For the past few months all one reads is more and more entities in UAE accepting crypto payments, whether they are schools, restaurants, property developers, Emirates airlines, retail shopping centers such as Majid Al Futtaim and many more. This time it is the turn for art galleries and charities. The majority of crypto enthusiasts and those passionate about Blockchain and crypto have been waiting for this for a long time; it signals the entrance of crypto into mainstream economy and once that happens there is no turning back. Bearish or bullish markets are of little significance because everyone is into crypto. So Yesterday UAE based Galloire, art gallery announced that it is now accepting crypto payments such a Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC for artwork sales glob

  So while crypto exchanges flock and grow in the MENA region specifically in Bahrain and the UAE, RAIN crypto exchange has laid off more than 120 employees. Speculations loom as to the reasons, yet one thing is certain; the first regulated crypto exchange to launch in the MENA region is facing the heat and is shedding its employees like a snake sheds its skin.  So while Binance and CoinMENA, both competitors of RAIN crypto exchange in Bahrain, were receiving upgrades on their licenses to category 4 and category 3 respectively, and while Crypto.com one of the biggest crypto exchanges globally received provisional approval for its virtual assets license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), RAIN was making no such announcements. On the contrary the only announcement it was making was that of layoffs. On May 1 st 2022, CoinMENA announced it had received an upgrade to its license from a category 2 to a category 3. As the company on LinkedIn stated, “We are proud

  In a recent article Binance announced that it had enabled a Dubai Hotel to offer crypto payment facilities. The hotel in question is the Manor by JA resorts located in Al Furjan. As per the article the The Manor hotel is settling payments in BNB (Binance coin), Bitcoin and Ethereum through Binance crypto to crypto payment gateway. As per Mohammed Hanif Al Qassim, Managing Partner of The Manor Hotel, “Virtual assets go in line with The Manor's vision for sustainability and digital transformation, considering its position among top eco-friendly boutique hotels in Dubai.” Richard Teng, Regional Head of MENA at the crypto-platform, “Binance has been actively engaging established local businesses and institutions to further increase the adoption of crypto for our users and the crypto community as a whole. Our partnerships with leading, innovative businesses, such as JA are in line with our vision to enhance crypto adoption across the region." Prior to this Property develop