Dubai World Trade Centre to create new crypto hub and become regulator

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to emerge as one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency-friendly jurisdictions as the government of Dubai has a new initiative to support local crypto development and regulation.

Officially announced Dec. 20, that the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) will be a government-owned exhibition and event venue in Dubai and will become a regulator and comprehensive zone for cryptocurrencies, operators, and exchanges.

The DWTC announced that it will create a comprehensive environment in Dubai for this sector. It will also work with the private sector to establish an “attractive ecosystem for the sector”.

The statement states that “The World Trade Center” will provide and supervise a new, world-class regulatory framework for Virtual Asset legislation and enforcement policies.

Cointelegraph reached out the DWTC for more information and will update this story as soon as possible.

Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, was one of the first to celebrate the announcement by the DWTC. Zhao reportedly began to become more interested in crypto in the UAE after he bought his first house in Dubai in October.

>> Dubai World Trade Centre to become comprehensive zone and regulator for virtual assets and Crypto https://t.co/Ndr6GDcJ4u
CZ Binance (@cz_binance), December 20, 2021

Related: UAE regulators approve cryptocurrency trading in Dubai-free zone

This initiative is in line with Dubai’s increasing efforts to support crypto development. Both Dubai and UAE have been actively working to ensure that the local economy can benefit from both blockchain technology and nonfungible tokens.

As part of its 2021 business plans, the Dubai Financial Services Authority announced in January that it was going to establish a crypto regulatory structure. This authority has granted a number of regulatory approvals to the crypto industry, and Dubai has become a spot for free economic zones for crypto.