Dubai adopted its first law governing virtual assets, its ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Wednesday on his Twitter account.
Dubai has also established an independent authority to oversee the development of the business environment for virtual assets in terms of regulation, licensing and governance, he added.
“We approved a law to regulate virtual assets, and set an independent regulatory body to oversee the implementation of the law in accordance to the best international practices,” said the Dubai ruler in the same statement.
The Authority is responsible for “regulating the issuance and offering of virtual assets and virtual tokens and the disclosures made on them, supervising and controlling them, and regulating and authorizing virtual asset service providers,” reported the Emirates news agency, WAM.
The authority will also “monitor the trades and transactions” that occur in the virtual sphere to “prevent manipulation,” according to the WAM report. The actions taken by the regulatory body will be done so in tandem with the Central Bank of UAE.
Virtual asset service providers are also bound by the new law, WAM reported.
“Our step is a leap towards the future aimed at developing this sector and protecting all investors in it,” the ruler said in his social media post.
Dubai, the region’s financial capital, has been pushing to develop virtual asset regulation to attract new forms of business as regional economic competition heats up. It has also in recent years tightened regulations to overcome an image as a hotspot for illicit money.
With Reuters
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