Dubai’s regulator approves the issuance of a crypto license to HashKey Group

It launched HashKey MENA FZE to operate in the local market

13.01.2025 - 11:20

3 min

What’s new? A subsidiary of HashKey Group called HashKey MENA FZE has received in-principle approval for a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). Upon final approval, the license will allow the company to offer broker-dealer and virtual asset exchange services in Dubai to retail, qualified, and institutional investors.

Press release

What else is known? Obtaining a VASP license will be an important development for HashKey OTC, the OTC trading arm of HashKey Group, as it expands its regulated offerings in the Middle East, the press release notes.

HashKey OTC offers spot trades, solutions for buying, and selling cryptocurrencies for fiat, as well as access to a large number of digital assets and fiat currencies.

HashKey Group currently holds licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Bermuda, is registered as a VASP in Ireland, and is actively seeking a license under the EU-wide Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation to expand its global presence.

JPMorgan predicts the growth of euro-pegged stablecoins after MiCA comes into force

The EU-wide Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation obliges issuers of stablecoins to keep reserves in local banks and obtain licenses

Crypto financial group of companies HashKey Group includes crypto investment company HashKey Capital, asset tokenization platform HashKey Tokenisation, PFP project incubation platform HashKey NFT, cloud platform HashKey Cloud, OTC platform HashKey OTC, global crypto exchange HashKey Global, and Hong Kong crypto exchange HashKey Exchange, which was the first to be licensed to operate in the local market.

The group’s valuation crossed the $1 billion mark following a funding round in early 2024.

In April last year, it began developing its own Layer 2 (L2) network based on the Ethereum blockchain and later announced a partnership with leading blockchain game Catizen for Telegram.

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