Dubai Unveils Crypto Marketing Rules To Protect Investors

Dubai unveils crypto marketing rules in order to better protect investors. Local regulators are imposing extra marketing and promotion limits for the industry as Dubai moves forward with a new license scheme for crypto service providers.

On August 25, Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), the city’s specialized crypto regulator, purportedly published new regulatory restrictions on virtual asset marketing, advertising, and promotion.

According to the local news outlet Gulf News, the VARA alluded to all types of outreach, communications, and advertising, information distribution, creating awareness, customer interaction, investment solicitation, and others in the guidelines.

The restrictions apply to all virtual asset-related communications and businesses that publish material on Dubai-based media websites, search engines, and online and offline publishing channels targeting clients in the Dubai market.

To prevent deceiving potential clients, the laws allegedly compel all local virtual asset service providers (VASP), including advertising platforms, to assure factual accuracy and publicly indicate any promotional aim.

According to the VARA, the new requirements are related to Dubai’s crypto-focused Minimal Viable Product (MVP) licensing, stating:

“These regulations specifically address marketing and communications activities, ahead of operationalizing the MVP licensees so that any mass-market information dissemination, and consumer solicitation are designed to safeguard community interests.”

The new regulations address only marketing and communication activities, because Dubai wishes to regulate advertisements and make crypto providers adhere to some sort of norms when advertising services before would-be investors. This is done in order to grant some sort of protection to investors, as not all of them are crypto literate and might fall into crypto schemes. Dubai unveils crypto marketing rules solely without any other type of regulation at the moment.

As previously reported, Sam Bankman-FTX Fried’s crypto exchange was one of the first to gain VARA’s MVP license in July 2022 through its local company FZE. The license allowed FZE to fully run a VASP in the region.

VARA’s recommendations were released in tandem with Abu Dhabi’s new ambitions to develop a blockchain and virtual asset strategy that is consistent with the country’s broader economic strategy. The Abu Dhabi Blockchain and Virtual Assets Committee convened its first meeting to examine the plan on August 25.

Dubai’s VARA, which was established in March 2022, is in charge of licensing and regulating all VASPs in the Emirate’s special development and free zones, with the exception of the Dubai International Financial Centre. In May, the regulator purchased property in the virtual reality environment The Sandbox as part of its ambitious industry regulatory ambitions.

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