Dubai is planning to make virtual assets like cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets key elements of its financial sector strategy. In a post shared on X, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum revealed that the trading volume on VARA-regulated crypto exchanges has crossed 2.5 trillion AED — establishing crypto as a completely new economic sector in the Emirate.
Over the weekend, Sheikh Mohammed met with key officials of the Dubai government to chalk out the Dubai Financial Sector Strategy. During the meeting, he acknowledged that VARA has played a crucial role in solidifying Dubai’s position in the global crypto sphere, Gulf Business reported.
VARA or the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, was established by Sheikh Mohammed back in 2022. At the time when governments around the world were viewing digital assets as volatile elements posing financial risks, VARA laid out clear guidelines to ensure that Dubai’s crypto sector grew while ensuring that investors explored the arena only through legally compliant businesses.
In his post on X, Sheikh Mohammed said, “today, Dubai leads as the largest licensed virtual assets market in the world,” crediting VARA for its crypto regulatory work so far.
As part of the Dubai Financial Sector Strategy, 15 initiatives will be rolled out in the next three years. These initiatives will be centred around capital markets, asset management, wealth management, cryptocurrencies, and fintech, the Gulf Business report noted.
The growing institutional interest in virtual assets has been reported as a big reason why virtual assets have been made part of the decided financial strategy.
As per CoinTelegraph, Dubai is aiming to grow Dubai’s digital assets sector to command three percent of its GDP in the years to come.
In May this year, Dubai also launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenization project under the oversight of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), which estimates that the valuation of tokenised properties could touch AED 60 billion by 2033 — making for seven percent of Dubai’s total real estate transactions.