Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) continues its strong stance towards the expansion of crypto services throughout the United Arab Emirates, recently granting an operational license to Laser Digital, the crypto counterpart of the Japanese financial giant Nomura. This achievement allows Laser Digital to cater to its customers’ needs by providing diversified crypto services, including broker-dealer services and investment management.
The elevation is foreseeable, with Laser Digital keen on introducing its trading and asset management businesses in the near future. The company is primed to deliver Over-The-Counter (OTC) trading services in conjunction with a multiplicity of crypto investment products tailored towards institutional investors. As the regulatory scenario in the United States adopts a firmer grip, crypto companies such as Laser Digital are venturing into other crypto-friendly jurisdictions, exploiting advantageous business environments.
Dubai has not only embraced the crypto wave but is at the forefront, strategically positioning itself as a regional hub for cryptocurrencies. Their recent legislation on virtual assets delivers the regulatory transparency fervently sought by crypto firms. This move has quite naturally led to an increase in the number of crypto exchanges choosing to operate from Dubai, the latest addition to this list being the exchange Binance.
Coincidentally, VARA permitted Binance to acquire the Operational MVP license within the same week, thereby broadening their services which now include virtual asset exchange and broker-dealer services to Dubai’s burgeoning institutional retail investors.
Prominently, this isn’t Nomura’s maiden voyage into the crypto sector. In September 2022, they launched a digital assets unit, which also accommodates a sub-unit known as Laser Venture Capital – striving to finance projects in decentralized finance (DeFi), centralized finance (CeFi), Web3, and blockchain spaces.
Laser Digital has big aspirations and has expressed its intention to primarily target institutional investors with high net worth. Such a move indicates plans for significant staff expansion by the year 2023. Concurrently, Nomura isn’t the only Japanese traditional finance player dipping their toes in the crypto waters. Many others, like the banking firm SBI, have deftly delved into the new age financial realm, now operating crypto exchange and coin mining arms. Furthermore, the Monex Group, a securities firm, anticipates launching its crypto exchange, Coincheck, on the NASDAQ exchange by next year.
The dynamic shift of traditional finance players to the crypto sphere, the changing global regulatory landscape, and the strategic position of Dubai as a crypto-enhancing jurisdiction amalgamate into an inescapable conclusion: the age of blockchain technology is upon us, and it seems to be gaining momentum day by day.
Source: Cryptonews
