The United Arab Emirates’ Securities and Commodity Authority (SCA) has prepared and approved a set of laws regarding ICOs.
Earlier in February, country’s financial regulator had warned investors of Initial Coin Offerings. In their past statement, SCA noted that ICOs were highly speculative, with prices extremely volatile.
The Minister of Economy and Chairman of SCA Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri has said that as the result of work and study of international best practices the watchdog is planning to recognize Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as securities.
The new law amendments will be implemented when they get published in UAE’s Official Gazette.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- In October 2017 UAE’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) presented its guide on ICOs. Back then, the financial watchdog said that virtual currencies were not legal tender. Instead, they should be seen as "commodities" in the same vein as precious metals or natural resources such as oil and gas, and therefore, they are to remain unregulated.
- Under the new laws, ICOs that run in the country will be defined as securities.
- Last year Central Banks of Saudi Arabia and the UAE began to test cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments