Back in October 2018, the United Arab Emirates announced its plans to make ICOs official corporate funding options and further expand its leading cryptocurrency position in the world.
Reuters reported that the new regulation will come into effect some time in 2019, with ICOs legitimately “replacing” IPOs, if companies decide to do so. The major reason for that was the stagnated IPO market and the ever-growing opportunities that the cryptocurrency market offers.
Arabian Business just announced that the new ICO regulatory changes will occur by the end of the first half of 2019. The Securities and Commodities Authority, or SCA, has already approved ICOs as legitimate securities.
In addition to the new regulations that aim to help businesses raise funds through more crowdfunding methods using blockchain, the SCA will be partnering with the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange to develop new trading platforms, specially designed for ICOs.
The adoption of ICOs will allow companies from around the world to register and get license in the UAE. According to the Chief Executive of the SCA, Mr. Obaid Al Zaabi, the falling prices and volatile cryptocurrency market are not obstacles for the future of blockchain and ICOs.
Nevertheless, Mr. Al Zaabi commented that while the prices of major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are not of concern to the SCA, the security of cryptocurrencies is. He said:
SCA considers security as main priority… we are going to authorise a very selected secured asset class in a way of issuing the ICOs. We are a regulator, we put money in regulations and we have sufficient budget in a way of delivering our responsibility.