Dubai’s Financial regulator has joined other regulators around the world as they debate how to regulate the crypto market. While Singapore seeks to restrict, the role of ordinary investors and the U.S. cracks down on crypto businesses due to previous market downturns, countries like Dubai and Hong Kong aim to entice investment.
Dubai highlights concerns over the operating procedures of crypto firms
According to an official, Dubai’s financial authority warned that increased communication between international watchdogs is necessary to prevent bad actors from taking advantage of loopholes in cryptocurrency regulations.
Elisabeth Wallace, an assistant director at the regulator in Dubai, claims that the Dubai Financial Services Authority plans to revise the regulations on crypto tokens, which have been in effect since November for the city’s business district.
Wallace expressed her concern about the operating procedures used by many crypto firms in Dubai on May 26 during a virtual conference. She emphasized that these companies frequently combine many activities under a single body, which causes authorities to have serious concerns. Wallace stressed the need for more coordination and communication among the cryptocurrency sector’s regulatory organizations.
She claimed that this improved cooperation is essential because several gaps may need to be closed. She said some dishonest people had been seen attempting to exploit these regulatory loopholes.
“A lot of crypto businesses tend to operate a significant number of activities within one umbrella, and that really concerns us […] They are across the whole world, and as regulators, we need to talk to each other a lot more in this area because there can be quite a few gaps, and we have seen a lot of bad actors trying to plug some of those gaps. Elisabeth Wallace”
Regulators are debating how to regulate the crypto industry around the world. Attempts are being made by nations like Dubai and Hong Kong to attract cash for cryptocurrency projects. Singapore wants to restrict the participation of retail investors.
However, U.S. officials have been cracking down on cryptocurrency companies since the demise of the digital asset exchange F.T.X. and a severe market downturn in 2017.
Why does the DeFi industry need crypto regulations?
Federal organizations and authorities in the U.S.U.S., including the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (C.F.T.C.), and Treasury, have all published guidelines and policies defining how cryptocurrency comes under each purview.
The cypherpunk philosophy centers on using encryption to defend people’s security and privacy against governments and businesses. Since crypto emerged from this group of people, many early participants have adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward creating and investing in the industry.
Key elements of crypto regulations
According to market analysts, these organizations include those that offer services for storage, transfer, exchange, settlement, and custody. The rules should be comparable to those of traditional financial service providers. It is important to have well-defined licensing and authorization criteria and clearly identified accountable authorities and coordinating channels.
Second, organizations that perform several tasks should be subject to additional prudential regulations. The recent F.T.X. disaster demonstrated how grouping exchange, wallets, and market-making services pose serious customer risks. Separating client assets from other functions is incredibly crucial.
Third, issuers of stablecoins should be held to high prudential standards. Stablecoins have the potential to become popular payment methods when they begin to gain popularity outside of the crypto community. Stablecoins could threaten monetary and financial stability severely if they are not adequately regulated.
How can regulations benefit the crypto industry?
The regulation establishes ownership of binary virtual assets.
Due to regulations like Recommendation 16 of the FATF and FinCEN’s M.S.B. and B.S.A. travel rule requirements, crypto assets will soon be split into two categories: regulated and unregulated. Exchanges and regulators can distinguish between clean virtual currencies and those used to launder money or finance terrorism and other crimes.
Regulation makes virtual assets easy to categorize and understand
Banks and financial institutions that support cryptocurrency are now extremely scarce. This has a direct connection to the ongoing legal ambiguity surrounding virtual assets and the labor-intensive, pricey, and necessary AML/KYC compliance processes.
The regulation permits financial Institutions to make investments
Technical innovation is relatively easy to implement since there is no financial incentive to change the existing status quo, inefficient systems, bureaucracy, cross-border financial constraints, and slow-moving authorities and financial institutions. The panicky, knee-jerk response governments demonstrated this and central banks had when Libra was first revealed, a perceived danger to the global financial system for which they were wholly unprepared.
Regulation puts an accurate valuation on a cryptocurrency’s worth
A high Bitcoin price is only sometimes a positive development. After Bitcoin’s meteoric rise in late 2017, its price had a catastrophic retrace, during which investors suffered enormous losses due to overvaluation, market manipulation, and blatant fraud. These Wild West circumstances were made possible by numerous virtual asset service providers.
A regulated market makes it easier for law enforcement to link real names to illegal activity, giving all cryptocurrency investors a level playing field. Getting away with phony buy and sell orders and coordination to produce “pump and dump” behavior will be more challenging. The market will evaluate cryptocurrencies based on their merits and subject them to stricter regulations.
