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UAE’s cryptocurrency ambitions to continue despite FTX crash 

Visitors stand in front of works by Bybit on display during the 15th edition of Art Dubai at Madinat Jumeirah in the Gulf emirate of Dubai, on March 10, 2022. - Art Dubai, the Middle East's largest annual contemporary art fair, featured for the first time digital works, as the wealthy Gulf emirate seeks to position itself as a crypto-assets hub. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)
To:

Al-Monitor Pro Members

From:

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst, Al-Monitor

 

Date:

Nov. 30, 2022

Bottom Line:

The UAE has picked a bad time to embrace cryptocurrencies. The chaotic collapse of crypto exchange FTX has potentially imperiled the very future of an already volatile industry. This comes as MENA was the world’s fastest-growing crypto market in 2022 and the UAE has moved aggressively to attract crypto companies to the country. That saw Dubai’s newly created virtual asset regulator award a key license to FTX in July 2022, only months before it imploded. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume and another controversial firm, has also secured licenses in the UAE. FTX’s downfall is now calling those moves into question. Despite this crypto calamity, the UAE doesn’t appear to be backing off from broader ambitions to become an industry hub.