These regulations do not cover 'virtual currency' which is defined as any type of digital unit used as a medium of exchange, unit account, or a form of stored value. In this context, these regulations do not apply to bitcoin or other crypto - currencies, currency exchanges, or underlying technology such as blockchain.
Khamis Al Mansouri, Governor of the Central Bank.
It seems, now they did so:
Abu Dhabi To Regulate Cryptocurrency Exchanges, Framework In The WorksAbu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) published a press release regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges on its website yesterday.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) plans to help the crypto community in the UAE by creating a “a robust, risk-appropriate regulatory framework to regulate and supervise activities of virtual currency exchanges and intermediaries.” No date or roadmap was specified for the upcoming project, however, the release mentioned that FSRA will be getting help from “industry participants and relevant professional bodies”.
FSRA previously submitted a ‘guidance’ on supervising ICOs and cryptocurrencies in October of last year. According to the document, cryptocurrencies are commodities which are regulated under Financial Services and Market Regulations (FSMR) only as derivatives. Mining, spot trade and spot transactions of cryptocurrencies are unregulated. Tokens issued in ICOs are considered as securities, where the entire ICO is regulated by FSMR.
The announcement comes a few days after Securities and Authorities Commodity
announced that ICO investors are on their own as UAE doesn’t “recognize, regulate or supervise” ICOs.
