The Dubai regulator has granted a crypto license to Bahrain’s CoinMENA
The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has granted a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license to Bahrain-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange CoinMENA to operate and provide services in and out of the emirate.
A license obtained by CoinMENA FZE, the Dubai subsidiary of CoinMENA BSC, will enable the platform to offer virtual asset brokerage services, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on December 12. It comes a year after the platform received provisional approval from Dubai's regulator.
The news is out! CoinMENA is officially licensed in Dubai.https://t.co/lbOq7GHtti
– CoinMENA | CoinMENA (@CoinMENA) December 13, 2023
The license gives CoinMENA in the United Arab Emirates retail and institutional customers the ability to deposit and withdraw in UAE dirhams without foreign exchange conditions for faster trading.
CoinMENA co-founders Dina Saman and Talal Tabba said in a joint statement that regulatory transparency from VARA has made Dubai a new global hub for crypto and digital asset financial services. Adds her fellow founder.
“Dubai is at the forefront of crypto growth and innovation, launching various initiatives to drive digital asset adoption in the region. Working with VARA will allow us to better serve our institutional and retail users in the emirate and reduce the cost of fiat-to-crypto transactions.”
The exchange has already partnered with digital banking platform Zand, he said.
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CoinMENA is a regulated entity licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) from 2021. Specifically, CoinMENA holds a CBB category-3 crypto asset service provider license, which allows it to provide its services to users in member countries. Gulf Cooperation Council.
A CoinMENA spokesperson said in an email response to Cointelegraph that the new license will only affect users in the UAE and that the Bahraini entity will continue to serve the rest of its customer base.
CoinMENA joins the growing list of active VASP licensees for crypto broker-dealer services consisting of crypto investment platform Fasset and digital asset company Laser Digital, among others.
“The competitive landscape is only going to get more competitive,” the spokesperson said. “We don't think Dubai has the ambition to become a global crypto hub. Accordingly, we expect more international players to enter.”
