The fastest evolving free economic zone in UAE levying zero percent corporate and personal income tax has recently started issuing licenses to cryptocurrency firms for facilitating their trading functionalities. A gold trader has bagged the first license and has even started offering its cryptocurrency services from the free economic zone.

Luring In Cryptocurrency Businesses From Across The Globe

DMCC or Dubai Multi Commodities Centre is a government body which was established back in 2002 for enhancing commodity trade flows through Dubai. The largest and fastest growing free economic zone in UAE offers zero percent corporate and personal income tax as revealed by the Centre’s website which states that:

“We perform a range of roles which continue to position Dubai as the preferred destination for global commodities trade and DMCC as the world’s No.1 Free Zone.”

Presently about 14100 start-ups and multinational corporations have set up their tent in DMCC constituting a working population of almost 90000 people.

Thomson Reuters Zawya reported on Monday that, licenses are already being issued by the centre for allowing cryptocurrency firms to operate from its free zone and trade in cryptocurrencies. Sanjeev Dutta, DMCC’s executive director for commodities disclosed to the publication that the Centre is “beginning to facilitate” a crypto market which is unregulated at present times.

Also Read: South Korea May Adopt Cryptocurrencies Exchange License Like New York’s BitLicense

He elaborated that:

“To me, what is important is the fact that you are still evaluating it as part of your innovation strategy. You are not saying ‘no’ to something. You are not saying ‘yes’ either, but you are exploring, so you are clearly ahead of the others when the time to make a decision comes,” while citing that the cryptocurrency firms setting up their operations in various zones shall be considered on a “case-by-case” basis.

Cryptocurrencies Getting Segregated As Commodities

DMCC is an affiliate of the Global Blockchain Council which started its operation as a part of Dubai Smart City project and has 46 member organisations spread across the globe. Franco Bosoni, the Centre’s director of innovation hub revealed that a global consensus favouring the classification of cryptos as commodities is emerging. The news outlet quoted him saying that, “DMCC’s view is that these [cryptocurrencies] meet the test of a commodity. They’re priced based on supply and demand, produced and sold globally at a uniform quality and (are) indistinguishable between products.”

Also Read: Dubai to adopt Blockchain Technology completely by 2020

Head of capital markets for Abu Dhabi Global Markets Regulatory Authority, Wai Lum Kwok revealed to the publication that the regulator is “reviewing and considering the development of a robust, risk-appropriate regulatory framework” meant for both cryptocurrency exchanges as well as its intermediaries.

He also added that, “As we develop our framework, we will also want to check in and have the conversations with, for example, US regulators, Japanese regulators and so on and so forth, so that there is some alignment of approach to avoid any regulatory arbitrage,” emphasizing on the fact that no timeframe has been set yet.

Issuance Of First License

The Free Zone’s first license was issued to Regal Assets – a storage provider and gold trader having offices in Canada, US and the UAE. Cryptocurrencies were added to the company’s product line at the end of 2018. Since then, they have been offering cryptocureency brokerage services as well as a high-security cold storage service for Ether, Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin Cash, Dash and Ripple.

Bloomberg reported that, “Dubai gold trader Regal RA DMCC is the first company in the Middle East to get a license to trade cryptocurrencies.” DMCC was also quoted by the news outlet which acknowledged the fact that, “The company will offer storage of bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies in a vault located in DMCC headquarters in Almas Tower in Dubai.”

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of DMCC was quoted by the publication stating that:

“At the heart of DMCC’s long-term strategic growth plan is the use of technology and innovation to disrupt and connect new markets, industries and customers.”

He ended his speech pointing out that, “the announcement today embodies this approach.”

Also Read: Abu Dhabi Issues Guidelines for ICO Regulations

KryptoMoney.com publishes latest news and updates about Bitcoin, Blockchain Technology , Cryptocurrencies and upcoming ICO’s.

Subscribe to our newsletters and join our Telegram Channel to stay updated.

Tarunima Ghosh Laha is a Finance Post Grad from St. Xaviers who believes Finance is more than just Balance Sheets and Ledger creation. This filmy bookworm who believes she was a sloth in past life also nourishes a penchant of owning a private zoo someday. Equipped with a laptop and online Lexicon she is all set to give finance a glamorous makeover in the form of exciting writeups with bang on info and flashy new words.