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Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) and Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) published updates to their crypto regulations. VARA updated its virtual asset rulebook and added new fiat-referenced virtual asset (FRVA) (or fiat-referenced stablecoin) regulations. VARAs exclude stablecoins pegged to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) dirham, which will remain under Central bank of the UAE regulation, and crypto-assets that reference central bank equity claims, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), or tokenized bank deposits for interbank settlement purposes. [Read more at VARA] DIFC proposed a new securities digital asset law in a new consultation paper.

In the first quarter of 2023, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) will start phasing in an Instant Payment Platform with a pilot group of licensed financial institutions. The initiative will enable payments processing and fund transfers in the UAE both around the clock and in real time. The new platform will enable the provision of the next generation of payment services to UAE financial institutions and consumers. https://www.centralbank.ae/media/muuenquk/cbuae-fosters-transformation-and-digitalisation-in-dialogue-with-financial-industry-officials_en.pdf

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) is reportedly operationalizing its domestic digital dirham central bank digital currency (CBDC). It is encouraging all UAE commercial banks and payments processors to participate in a pilot integration with the CBUAE digital dirham issuing node and has decreed digital dirham adoption by all UAE licensed financial institutions (LSIs) by 2026. In the immediate term, those LSIs are being encouraged to develop digital dirham use cases in the CBUAE sandbox.

While countries like Turkey, Iran and Israel are in the process of investigating the advantages of blockchain technology, the UAE, along with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, is leading the charge when it comes to positive crypto and blockchain legislation. The UAE, in particular, already hosts several blockchain initiatives that stand to benefit significantly from the new regulations.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) have agreed to a framework to promote use of Indian rupee (INR) and UAE Dirham (AED) usage for cross-border transactions, and work towards interlinking their fast payment systems (FPSs), to cut transaction costs by eliminating dollar conversions. More specifically, they will link India's unified payments interface (UPI) with the UAE instant payment platform (IPP), and also link their respective card switches (RuPay switch and UAESWITCH).

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is planning to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for domestic and cross-border payments in order to help drive innovation for domestic payments, and address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and respectively. The issuance of a digital dirham is one of nine initiatives of the central bank's Financial Infrastructure Transformation Program. https://www.centralbank.ae/media/mdupathy/cbuae-launches-a-financial-infrastructure-transformation-programme-to-accelerate-the-digital-transformation-of-the-financial-services-sector-en.pdf

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) conducted its first cross-border digital dirham transfer using the mBridge central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform on January 29, 2024. A 50 million dirhams transfer was sent to China. https://gulfnews.com/business/video-first-cross-border-payment-made-using-uaes-digital-dirham-1.100731629

The Dubai Land Department, the real estate arm of the Executive Council of Dubai, has partnered with UAE-based Mashreq Bank to release a blockchain-based mortgage platform.

UAE-based RAKBank is expanding its remittance routes using RippleNet blockchain technology. RAKBank and Bangladesh-based Bank Asia have partnered to allow users to transfer money between accounts at the two institutions within 24 hours. The announcement doesn't specify whether the service utilizes XRP, which is an option for RippleNet users.

BTW the Aber pilot benefits greatly from the fact that both the Saudi Riyal and UAE Dirham are pegged to the U.S. dollar at the same exchange rate, so there's no need to make the CBDC basket currency-based.

The Dubai government approved a new virtual assets law and established the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).  VARA will operate as an affiliated agency of the Dubai World Trade Center and will focus on compliance and disclosures of virtual asset service providers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The new agency will also handle the UAE's crypto licensing regime. These crypto licenses will only be given to firms that establish a business presence in the UAE.

The Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed) reached agreement to develop a digital currency to enable trading between banks in the two countries.

The Central Bank of the UAE and the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the capital's international financial hub, invited fintech companies to compete in the annual FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge. This year's challenge aims at developing innovative solutions to serve the financing needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. It also seeks to drive the adoption of regulatory technology solutions to "improve compliance outcomes and enhance regulatory processes".

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) approach to regulating crypto-assets has prioritized providing regulatory clarity and guidance to entities that want to engage in activities related to digital assets - providing notice as to the types of activities are permitted and prohibited. In contrast, U.S. regulators, have organized around an approach that provides no advance notice to industry participants, opting instead to bring charges which rely on untested and novel legal theories. 

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) issued new guidance concerning anti-money laundering (AML) and countering financing of terrorism (CFT) measures for crypto businesses on May 31, 2023. It outlines the risks arising from dealing with virtual asset and virtual asset service providers (VASPs), taking into account the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The new rules will come into effect in one month. https://www.centralbank.ae/media/avwlktgy/cbuae-guidance-for-lfis-on-risks-related-to-virtual-assets-and-virtual-assets-providers_final-clean-version1.pdf

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is coming closer to issuing its virtual asset regulatory and supervisory framework. It has also completed its consultation on developing the necessary regulatory framework to address the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing related to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers in the United Arab Emirates, in order to ensure that the virtual assets sector adheres to the recommendations and requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The Reserve Bank of India (India) and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the interoperability between the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of the two central banks. The banks will jointly conduct proof-of-concept (PoC) and pilot(s) of bilateral CBDC bridges to facilitate cross-border CBDC transactions of remittances and trade. The MoU also provides for technical collaboration and knowledge sharing on matters related to Fintech and financial products and services. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=55372

The Registration Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) issued a consultation paper to explain the proposed Distributed Ledger Technology Foundations Regulations 2023, and seeking public feedback  on the proposed new legislative framework for foundations that facilitate Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and token issuance. The ADGM is an international finance center within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has a bespoke licensing regime for virtual asset service providers supervised by its financial regulator. The authority is not the ADGM's financial watchdog, so the proposal is limited to tackling matters of service type and governance.

In March 2023, the CBUAE announced the launch of its CBDC strategy, the first phase of which was expected to be complete June 2024. It included a soft launch of the BIS Innovation Hub led mBridge cross-border wholesale CBDC platform, proof-of-concept work for bilateral CBDC bridges with India, and proof-of-concept work for domestic wholesale and retail CBDC. The CBUAE aims to ensure the readiness of the UAE to integrate CBDC-based payment infrastructures with the future potential tokenization world.

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has reportedly made central bank digital currency (CBDC) issuance a priority in its 2023-2026 roadmap. However, I've found no evidence of this roadmap on the CBUAE website, and we don't know whether the focus will be on retail or wholesale CBDC.