Abu Dhabi: The Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) will become a comprehensive zone and regulator for virtual assets and cryptocurrencies, the Dubai Media Office said on Monday.
The move by the DWTC to create a specialized zone for virtual assets, will become one-stop-shop for cryptocurrency, digital assets, products, operators and exchanges.
As part of this initiative, the Dubai World Trade Center will design a comprehensive ecosystem for this advanced sector within Dubai and collaborate with the private sector to create an “attractive environment for the sector”.
The Dubai World Trade Center stated that the project also aims to impose strict investor protection standards and anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures.
The World Trade Center will introduce and oversee a new global regulatory framework for legislative policy and enforcement of virtual assets, the statement read.
This initiative comes in line with Dubai’s increasing efforts to support cryptocurrency development as both Dubai and the UAE are actively working for the local economy to benefit from blockchain technology as well as non-destructible tokens and cryptocurrencies.
In January 2021, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) was planning to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies as part of its 2021 business plan. The authority has issued a series of regulatory approvals for the cryptocurrency space so far, while Dubai has become the location for several cryptocurrency free economic zones.