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Kraken was the second cryptocurrency exchange after Binance to receive regulatory approval to operate in the United Arab Emirates. Kraken is now allowed to operate on the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial center and free zone of Abu Dhabi.
After receiving the crypto trading license, Kraken will now make the global crypto market available to local investors through the dirham (AED) trading pairs, which is a diversification of trading pairs to use local currencies instead of the traditional British pound and the US dollar.
Integration with local banks in the UAE
With the new crypto trading license, Kraken intends to integrate with local payment service providers in Abu Dhabi; something Kraken’s Managing Director Curtis Ting believes will help Kraken bring liquidity to the UAE on a global scale.
Dubai, in particular, is known for having a massive crypto fan base with a trading volume of more than $25 billion per year.
Curtis Ting said:
“It is really important for us to facilitate access to global markets and global liquidity by ensuring that investors and traders in the region have access to local currencies [/Handelspaaren] have.“
The interest of crypto exchanges in the Middle East
While Kraken has only just received its first crypto trading license in the Middle East, Binance, its competitor, has already been granted crypto trading licenses to operate in Dubai and Bahrain.
After the influx of regulated crypto exchanges in the Middle East, local companies have also started to enter the crypto world. For example, the Citizens School in Dubai has started accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as tuition fees, with crypto payments automatically converted into dirhams.
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