In April, the leading crypto exchange Binance announced that it had received approval to operate in Dubai, the biggest and wealthiest city in the United Arab Emirates. The license was one of the first granted by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, a regulator created in 2022 by the Dubai government to supervise the growing crypto industry.
The green light was a major win for Binance, which was still rebuilding after the criminal conviction and imprisonment of its founder and former CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, by the U.S. government in late 2023. It also reflected a developing strategy for the nascent regulator: attracting the world’s leading crypto companies to the Gulf emirate, even as other jurisdictions turn them away.
