Crypto exchange FTX takes strides into Middle East amid global expansion
FTX has won over regulators in Dubai who have given the firm a green light to set up a digital asset exchange and clearing house.
FTX’s newly launched European and Middle East division has become the first digital asset exchange to obtain a license in Dubai to launch a specialised crypto derivatives platform. The decision to target customers in the United Arab Emirates comes as FTX pursues global expansion, with the company setting up a host of new business divisions on the back of a $400m capital raise in January 2022 at a valuation of $32bn.
“FTX is proud to be the first licensee under Dubai’s prudential supervision regime,” commented FTX’s 29-year-old founder Sam Bankman Fried, revealing that the company is aiming to be at “the forefront of licensing and regulation around the world.”
“It’s an extremely interesting market,” Patrick Gruhn, the head of FTX Europe told Morning Wire’s tech weekly podcast. “Crypto adoption is clearly heating up in the UAE and in the Middle East in general.”
According to Gruhn obtaining licenses from regulators in Switzerland, Cyprus and now the UAE will allow FTX to create a shared liquidity pool to ensure better prices, execution and market depth for clients.
“What we are trying to achieve with FTX Europe is to bring this liquidity from where we have regulatory approval together into one liquidity,” Gruhn explained.
The United Arab Emirates has been establishing itself as a hub for digital assets with Dubai’s ruler last week announcing the creation of a regulatory and licensing authority to issue crypto licenses to businesses.
Helal Saeed Almarri, the director general of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority commented that “Dubai views the Virtual Assets industry as an accelerator for the Future Global Economy.”
“Licensing FTX within this specialist regime reflects our focus on enabling only the most credible global players that demonstrate a consistent commitment to future-proof this sector,” Almarri said.
Read more: Tech Weekly: Head of FTX Europe on Tomorrowland and making crypto mainstream