The UAE is indeed the crypto capital of the world, according to industry leaders in the Middle East

While the global crypto community is still wondering which country is the best hub for virtual assets, one Middle East industry leader believes that the UAE is indeed the crypto capital of the world in terms of value created and innovation taking place in the region.

Marwan Al Zarooni, CEO of the Dubai Blockchain Center, told Cointelegraph that there are a lot of major projects that have moved into the UAE ecosystem dedicated to development and development. He added:

“The cryptocurrency space, Web 3.0 and Metaverse[in the UAE]are booming and everything that the UAE and Dubai are creating and developing is starting to spread around the world.”

Al Zarooni also praised the “amazing work” done by the country’s capital, Abu Dhabi, in its initiatives to fund and incubate Web 3.0 projects, which further contributed to making the country a hub for innovation and enterprise development, and further emphasized the following:

“We’re not saying the UAE is the crypto capital of the world when we talk about the negative connotation (which might come with it), rather it is the crypto capital of the world when it comes to innovation, development and actual value creation.”

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Last month, Abu Dhabi’s global technology hub, Hub71, unveiled a Web 3.0 ecosystem to accelerate the growth of startups in the sector, along with $2 billion in investments. Dubbed Hub71+ Digital Assets, the initiative will give Web 3.0 startups access to all stakeholders, including venture capital firms, clients, technology providers, blockchain platforms and the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

In February, Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority issued the Full Market Product (FMP) Regulations to provide further guidance to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in the emirate.

The UAE Cabinet has also issued a federal-level regulation of virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, adding another layer of oversight to the virtual asset industry in the country.

Al Zarooni noted that regulations in the UAE “move very quickly,” and whenever the government issues new rules, it listens to the public for feedback. He explained:

“We are all ears, our leadership in the UAE has taught us to be like that. We never tell people what to do, we tell them what we think they should do and listen to what they have to say so we form this quick discussion group.”

Al Zarouni also revealed Dubai’s unified licensing system, which he describes as the global entry permit for companies, regardless of whether they are registered in the Dubai Free Zone or not. He explained:

“The big idea for us is to create a really healthy system for investors and exhibitors to really be among the people and companies that are licensed for the first time in Dubai using something like a global license.”

Al Zarouni added that the unified license allows companies to display their projects and offers in Dubai, and enables the government to “get rid of” illegal, unlicensed or unregulated projects in the UAE.