In a news piece on Oman News agency, the Board of governors of the Central Bank of Oman, held their third meeting for 2023 where the followed up on developments as well as reviewed the international stance on cryptocurrencies as well as related studies conducted by the executive management team at the central bank on cryptocurrencies. This comes as Oman works on its virtual asset regulations, having   at the end of July 2023 announced a public consultation paper on virtual assets regulatory framework by the Oman Capital Market Auhtority. The Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman (CMA), which regulates and develops Oman's financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, had earlier announced its plans to establish the new regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities such as crypto assets, tokens, crypto exchanges, and initial...

    UAE based BitOasis crypto broker exchange has announced that it has secured an investment from CoinDCX, India’s biggest crypt exchange. This comes after BitOasis’s license was suspended by VARA for not meeting requirements. The latest investment will give BitOasis a new life line. As per the news, the new capital injection will help to support BitOasis’s vision to amplify its regional presence and secure further licenses in the region. Commenting on the news, Ola Doudin, Co-Founder and CEO of BitOasis said: “We are delighted to be working with CoinDCX, India’s leading crypto platform. From our first conversations, it was clear we share a common vision and synergies across our markets that we look forward to building towards. The investment will allow us to sharpen our focus on perfecting our existing products and expanding across our markets. We are very excited about the opportunities the funding will unlock for us.” Sumit Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of CoinDCX stat...

  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-bas...

    Oman’s Green Data City, the first data center in Oman to obtain a crypto mining license will have full blockchain capacity in 2023. The datacenter which is nestled in Salalah region of Oman, harnesses its coastal location to utilize renewable energy sources. As per a report in Oxford Business group, the project is set to receive more than $3.2 billion as part of Vision 2040 and is expected to reach full blockchain capacity in 2023. The MTCIT announced in December 2022 that it secured OR150m ($390m) in investment from a consortium of local and foreign financiers to develop a large-scale data center at Green Data City. The investment is earmarked for the processing and hosting data; and the adoption of distributed ledger technologies, blockchain and financial technology. In an interview with Said Abdullah Al Mandhari ,CEO of Oman ICT Group, he noted that advanced technologies and blockchain, in particular, have enormous potential to enhance Oman’s long-term economic...

  Aquanow, a digital assets infrastructure provider has unilaterally announced that it has received initial approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), while it undertakes the in-depth process of applying for a license in accordance with VARA requirements. Full approval to operate will be issued by VARA as soon as Aquanow completes all mandated requirements, which the firm is expected to complete in the near-term. “At Aquanow, we believe that the UAE is a forward-thinking jurisdiction for digital assets regulation and we view Dubai as a key hub for our international growth efforts,” said Aquanow’s Chief Executive Officer, Phil Sham. “We’re excited to receive the initial approval from VARA and to be moving closer to powering a range of digital asset use cases in the region.” Aquanow, which is privately-backed, is one of the largest digital asset liquidity providers and is a global leader serving financial services clients in 40 countries around the world. ...

    According to a recent news piece in Khaleej Times, Liminal, a crypto custodial wallet platform has applied for a license at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in an effort to offer regulated service in the region. Liminal which claims to have processed crypto transactions worth $5.6 billion on its platform, with over $550 million worth of assets under protection, believes that people will use digital assets either as part of investment or a part of underlying fundamental technology. Mahin Gupta, Founder, Liminal stated to Khaleej Times, “Regulation will become uniform across the globe. UAE has taken a first mover advantage in the field of digital asset regulation, with much clarity. They have a clear idea about how they want to look at Metaverse, how they want to look at trading, how they want to look at custody and how they want to look at blockchain as a service and blockchain as a platform for other applications.” Liminal in the past month has advertised for the po...

      During DACOM (The Digital Asset Compliance and Market Integrity Summit ) hosted by Solidus Labs, a crypto-native market surveillance and risk monitoring hub tailored for digital assets, in Abu Dhabi on May 4 th 2023, Dubai’s virtual asset regulator CEO stated that only 50 percent of Dubai’s legacy VASPs (those who were operating before VARA was set up) applying for license at VARA will need to be regulated. He also talked about the opportunity to launch regulation and compliance as a service for small business and entrepreneurs. Henson Orser , CEO of Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, VARA, discussing VARA’s licensing journey with strong legal risk compliance, stated, “Currently we have three cohorts that are passing through several processes and routes to being fully licensed, the Minimum Viable product cohort that includes global operators who were with us from day one.   There are also legacy VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers), several...

  UAE Abu Dhabi Global Market’s registration authority is seeking to develop regulations for DLT ( Distributed Ledger Technology) decentralized autonomous organizations and has started with the issuance of a consultation paper seeking replies before May 12 th 2023. For the proposed Distributed Ledger Technology Foundations Regulations 2023, ADGM is seeking public feedback and comments on the proposed new legislative framework for foundations that facilitate Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and token issuance (DLT Foundations). As per the announcement, the Consultation Paper is of interest to any persons operating or planning DLT projects, persons engaging in digital asset related activities and their legal advisors, as well as DLT industry participants, associations, and stakeholders. The RA’s key proposals for the Distributed Ledger Technology Foundations Regulations cover: the structure of the DLT Foundations; governance and control; tokens; reporting, disclosures and ...

  The UAE Central Bank announced on Sunday 12 th of February 2023 its nine initiatives for what it calls its financial infrastructure transformation program, the FIT program that will enable the Central Bank of the UAE to be among the top central Banks globally. One of the nine initiatives is the launch of a CBDC for internal and cross border payments, but where is the 10 th , the one that will actually put the UAE on the map as the digital payment hub. Where is the UAE’s Central Bank digital asset payment and remittance regulation or rulebook? So the UAE Central Bank has finally openly stated that it will be launching a CBDC ( Central Bank Digital Currency) for not only cross border payments but also UAE internal national payments. As per the release, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be utilized for cross-border payments and domestic usage in order to address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and help drive innovation for domestic payments res...

  The UAE Cabinet recently updated some of its legislation which  included those pertaining to virtual businesses and virtual assets. The UAE is considering the provision of services and the conduct of business and activities related to virtual assets and virtual businesses based on its new commercial law.  As such businesses dealing either virtually or with virtual assets are considered commercial businesses within the UAE as on shore businesses. This comes after the UAE Cabinet of Ministers issued its decision on virtual assets regulation in December 2022 and which will come into effect in January. As per UAE’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, Abdullah Al Saleh, developing the business sector is a strategic goal for the state, and providing a legislative environment that stimulates its growth is a top priority. His comments were made during a media briefing , organized by the Ministry of Economy, to introduce Federal Decree Law No. 50 of 2022 regarding com...

  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...

  Qatar has finally started to truly embrace blockchain. The Communications Regulatory Authority has launched a national consultation paper about the “National Blockchain Blueprint for Qatar”. The paper was collaboratively developed by CRA, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and Qatar University. Qatar university recently announced its foray into the metaverse. The consultation paper will establish the blueprint for the blockchain framework in Qatar. It identifies key elements such as regulations, adoption, innovation and creativity. It also identifies the key blockchain requirements. The National Blockchain Blueprint highlights how blockchain technology can contribute to building an innovative and growing IT sector in Qatar by increasing domestic and foreign investment as stated in the CRA Strategy 2021-2025, to support Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV) and Qatar National Development Strategy, as well as to enabling a seamless transition towards smart Qatar. The blueprint examin...

  In an interview with CNBC Al Arabia, Yazeed Saleh Aldemaigi Deputy, Strategy & International Affairs, at Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) announced that regulations for Security Token offerings (STO) will be out before the end of 2022 in Saudi Arabia. As per the interview, application for STO offerings will be available on the CMA digital platform by end of 2022. He added that the Fintech Lab at CMA has been working on finding the most appropriate environments for FinTech startups. The STO regulations that will come out at the end of 2022 will help to attract foreign investment firms interested in the FinTech domain in KSA as well as support local companies. The Fintech Lab from CMA was launched in 2017.   It aimed to provide a regulatory framework that is conducive for the innovation of Financial Technology (FinTech) in the capital market within the Kingdom. One of the business models under the Fintech Lab was related to use of Distributed Ledger Technology...

  Oman Capital Market Authority recently issued its new Securities Law (46/2022 ) which  stipulates that the authority can “Agree to application of technologies, virtual digital investments or any products or services in the areas related to the provisions of this law, as set out in the Regulation.” In an article in Oman Observer, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Salim Al Salmi, Executive President of the   Oman Capital Market Authority states, “ The law will contribute to the growth of FinTech based services as the law authorizes the authority to regulate innovative financing, approval of FinTech based apps and virtual investments. The law also allows expanding the financing options by regulating new products and services.” In March of 2022, Oman Capital Markets Authority (CMA), invited companies interested in helping it set up a regulatory framework for virtual assets to participate in a tender process. According to sources, the regulatory framework should be finalized by Q3 ...