According to Thani Al-Zeyoudi, the Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates, the country aims to use cryptocurrencies in the future and establish a regulatory framework for the ecosystem.
Speaking with Bloomberg on January 20th in Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum's annual meeting is taking place, Al-Zeyoudi said that the UAE is considering trading in currencies other than the US dollar and specifically mentioned cryptocurrency as an area of expansion. Al-Zeyoudi also emphasized that the country is focusing on becoming a significant center for cryptocurrency with friendly policies that provide enough protection. He also mentioned that the UAE has already made some progress in this field and is working to attract some companies to the UAE to build the right management approach and legal system needed for the ecosystem. Omar Sultan Al Olama, who is responsible for Artificial Intelligence, also made some statements following Al-Zeyoudi's comments, He emphasized that despite the unfortunate developments in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the goal of the United Arab Emirates to become a center for the cryptocurrency ecosystem has not changed. He also denied claims that the UAE will be a safe haven for crypto criminals, stating that governments must work together to identify and stop bad actors.
It's worth mentioning that United Arab Emirates recently introduced a new regulation that makes it mandatory for organizations involved in crypto activities to obtain a license and approval from the Virtual Asset Regulation Authority (VARA).
