UAE’s cryptocurrency ambitions to continue despite FTX crash 

Al-Monitor Pro Members

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst, Al-Monitor

Nov. 30, 2022

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.