TL;DR
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has approved XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the Ripple ecosystem, for use by local virtual asset services in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).
According to a press release, licensed crypto firms and businesses within the DIFC can now incorporate XRP into their virtual asset services.
Ripple disclosed that XRP is the first crypto asset to be approved by the DFSA since the regulator started receiving external applications. The asset has now joined bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), which the DFSA previously approved.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said:
“Dubai continues to demonstrate global leadership when it comes to the regulation of virtual assets and nurturing innovation. It’s refreshing to see the DFSA encourage the adoption and use of digital assets such as XRP to position Dubai as a leading financial services hub intent on attracting foreign investment and accelerating economic growth.”
With XRP’s listing in Dubai, new regional payments and use cases may be unlocked for the XRP Ledger. Ripple said Dubai’s innovation-forward regulations and reputation as the leading global financial center propelled the decision to choose the DIFC for its Middle East and North Africa headquarters in 2020. Over time, the MENA region has amassed and now holds roughly 20% of Ripple’s customers.
“Ripple will continue to double down on its presence in Dubai, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with regulators to realize crypto’s full potential,” Garlinghouse added.
While the United Arab Emirates continues its mission to become one of the most innovative jurisdictions offering regulatory clarity and guidance for licensed firms through DFSA’s crypto regime, Ripple and XRP have witnessed significant wins recently.
Ripple has won two partial victories against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in July and October. A federal judge ruled that the programmatic sales of XRP did not constitute a security or an offer of an investment contract in July, while U.S. magistrates dismissed the regulator’s wish to appeal the initial decision in October, as well as all charges brought against Garlinghouse and the company’s executive chairman Chris Larsen.
Meanwhile, XRP recently hit an all-time high in an important metric: a record count of over 277,000 sharks and whales.
