FTX Europe & MENA announced that it has been licensed to establish and operate its Virtual Asset (VA) Exchange and Clearing House services in Dubai. FTX Europe becomes the first fully regulated VA Exchange to trial complex crypto derivatives dedicated to professional institutional investors within a reputed international jurisdiction.

“FTX is proud to be the first licensee under Dubai’s prudential supervision regime. It’s an honor to be one of the first approved applicants in such a specialised category and we are excited to be able to introduce complex crypto-derivatives products with centralised counterparty clearing to institutional markets. FTX receiving this approval is a continuation of our mission to be at the forefront of licensing and regulation around the world. We plan to continue playing a lead role in advancing the digital asset industry in countries that provide a robust regulatory framework, while also operating with the highest security, risk, and investor protection standards,” FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, stated.

Dubai is the only global economy to have an independently regulated environment under its newly announced Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), to be governed by comprehensive legislation and internationally applicable policy frameworks. The license issued under prudential supervision, allows FTX to operate within Dubai’s ‘test-adapt-scale’ VA market model which has rigorous regulatory oversight and mandatory FATF compliance controls that are similar to the requirements of Tier 1 international financial markets.

“Dubai views the Virtual Assets industry as an accelerator for the Future Global Economy. Our VARA regime is structured to catalyze collaboration, foster innovation, and most critically prioritise public protection. This has hence been designed as the world’s first participatory-governance model, where industry innovators and market shapers share responsibility with policy makers to create a smarter, more democratic, and borderless new 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,” Helal Saeed Almarri, General Director of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority that houses VARA said.