Middle East

Crypto firm Paxos has secured in-principle approval from Abu Dhabi’s regulator on two fronts: to issue stablecoins and conduct digital asset services.In a Nov. 29 announcement, Paxos said the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in the Abu Dhabi Global Market had granted in-principle ap ...

The open-source blockchain developer IOTA announced on Nov. 29 that it is launching a foundation, the IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation, based in Abu Dhabi to focus on the growth of its distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the Middle East region. According to the announcement, the new founda ...

The ghastly events of this past month raise again some troubling questions: Does crypto have a terrorist fundraising problem? Are its networks really being exploited by terrorists to wreak global havoc? If so, what must it do better?On the other hand, maybe the problem is one of perception ...

Web3 games developer Animoca Brands and Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Investment Fund announced a new partnership on Oct. 30 to drive Web3 development in the region. According to the announcement, the new deal will have Animoca working with NEOM to build Web3 enterprise service capabilities. Th ...

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is at it again. With mainstream press outlets including Germany’s Deutsche Welle running sensationalist headlines — “How cryptocurrency fueled Hamas’ terrorist attack” — Warren is using Hamas’ attack on Israel to fuel h ...

Ras Al Khaimah ruler Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi inaugurated the new RAK Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO), an economic free zone dedicated to supporting companies involved in digital and virtual assets, blockchain, Web3, and artificial intelligence (AI), on Oct. 19.As previously reported ...

Major cryptocurrency exchanges and businesses are being lured to a proverbial crypto oasis around the Persian Gulf, according to Binance FZE’s general manager.Alex Chehade, who heads Binance's local operation in Dubai, tells Cointelegraph reporter Ezra Reguerra that progressive regulatory ...

The use of cryptocurrency by Hamas militants to fund recent attacks on Israel may have set back Coinbase’s crypto lobbying efforts in the United States, says a new investment report from Berenberg Capital Markets. In an Oct. 18 research note, Berenberg lead analyst Mark Palmer said th ...

Saudi Arabia has ramped up its economic diversification efforts driven by its ambitious Vision 2030. In a bid to diversify its economy away from a dependence on oil, the kingdom has embraced emerging technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), and tapped into bo ...

The United States Department of Commerce said on Aug. 31 that the Biden administration has “not blocked chip sales to the Middle East,” according to a report from Reuters. This comes after disclosures were revealed in a Nvidia report that the U.S. government had expanded requirements ...

The Sultanate of Oman has launched a new cryptocurrency mining center, the second mining facility to open in the country in the past 10 months. According to a local publication, the Oman Daily Observer, a data hosting and cryptocurrency mining center, was opened in the Salalah Free Zone, which is ...

The crypto arm of Nomura has obtained an operating license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) amid the Japanese financial holding firm’s attempts to leave its mark in the digital asset space.Laser Digital Middle East FZE, Nomura’s Dubai-based digital asset subsidiary, a ...

Blockchain has the potential to save financial institutions approximately $10 billion in cross-border payment costs by the year 2030, according to a recent report.Published by digital payment network Ripple, in collaboration with the US Faster Payments Council (FPC) on July 29, the report ...

The Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority has granted its financial services permission for cryptocurrency firm Rain to offer brokerage and custody services to residents. In a July 25 announcement, Rain said the regulatory approval will allow certain U ...

The middle eastern arm of cryptocurrency exchange OKX reported Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority had granted the firm a minimal viable product preparatory license as part of its plans to expand into the region.In a June 15 notice, OKX said amid the regulator’s licensin ...

The Coinbase CEO will hold meetings with politicians and regulators There are currently about 500 startups based in Dubai And more than 11% of the population owns cryptocurrency Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said that the United Arab Emirates could ...