New regulation information is coming in today’s crypto news after the United Arab Emirates pushes ahead to start recognizing initial coin offerings (ICOs) as securities for more efficient fundraising for startups in 2019.
The UAE will allow domestic companies to gather more money by offering crypto tokens to all investors as a plus method besides the traditional funding as investing in shares. ICOs will be considered as securities and will be regulated.
The draft regulation is now ready and will be implemented in early 2019. Chief Omar Saif al-Zaabi, the securities market watchdog, explained the plan on a seminar by saying:
“The board of the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority [ESCA] has approved considering ICOs as securities. As per our plan, we should have regulations on the ground in the first half of 2019.”
Last year, Abu Dhabi issued a strategy on initial coin offerings, regulating them as securities. However, cryptocurrencies were not classified as a legal tender but are still considered as commodities by the Abu Dhabi government.
In the past several years, domestic companies have gone through a very hard period by having difficulties raising finances because of the low oil prices within the UAE and the broader Gulf region. This is why this new law is seen as a major boost for domestic companies by making it easier for them to obtain funds and run the business smoothly.
If this law is approved by the United Arab Emirates’ prime minister, it will take effect in early 2019 and there will be a mandated place for women on the board by minimum 20% in publicly listed companies.
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