Dubai is well known for being a crypto friendly location, but that hasn’t stopped local regulators from pursuing enforcement action against businesses that are not compliant.
The BitOasis cryptocurrency exchange was the subject of an enforcement action that was launched on July 10 by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) of the Emirate. One of the biggest cryptocurrency platforms, BitOasis focuses on Middle Eastern users. Dubai regulators on guard.
In accordance with the notice, BitOasis is being investigated for “not meeting mandated conditions, required to be satisfied within 30-60 day timeframes prior to being permitted to undertake any VARA regulated market activity.”
Early this year, BitOasis received the first of Dubai’s “minimum viable product operational licenses,” although the regulator has the right to revoke that authorization.
The license allows the firm to offer broker-dealer services for crypto assets to qualified retail and institutional investors from its Dubai headquarters.
BitOasis, which operates in 14 countries across MENA (Middle East and North Africa), claims more than $3 billion in trading volume, according to its website.
Last year, the exchange axed 5% of its staff, citing recession and market turmoil. It is not the first time Dubai regulators have issued warnings and reprimands. In April, VARA issued a reprimand to Kyle Davies and Su Zhu, co-founders of the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
In May, the regulator reprimanded OPNX founders Mark Lamb and Sudhu Arumugam, as well as its Chief Executive Officer Leslie Lamb, for conducting unregulated activities. In late June, Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit landed a minimum viable product preparatory license from VARA. Bybit has also slashed staff during the crypto bear market.
Crypto Market Outlook
Markets are up marginally, but volume remains low, and trading remains sideways. Total capitalization has reached $1.23 trillion at the time of writing, following a 1.6% gain on the day.
Bitcoin spiked to $31,000 briefly during late trading on July 10 but could not hold that level and sharply retreated back to yesterday’s levels around $30,400.
Ethereum was up 1.3% on the day at $1,881 at the time of writing. Binance Coin (BNB) and Polygon (MATIC) were performing well, gaining 5% and 8%, respectively
