Editor’s Note
This article highlights the significant influx of virtual asset companies to Dubai’s DMCC, driven by its favorable regulatory environment and tax benefits. The growth underscores Dubai’s expanding role as a global hub for the crypto and commodities sectors.
The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), often called a crypto holy land, is rapidly expanding its presence. Amid various tax benefits and active investment support, virtual asset companies from around the world are flocking to DMCC.
According to DMCC on the 29th, 3,049 new companies registered last year, an increase of about 23% compared to 2,485 in 2021. The number of companies located within the DMCC business district alone reaches 22,000. Among these, 343 companies newly settled in the ‘DMCC Crypto Centre,’ where virtual asset-related companies are clustered. This is more than double the 150 companies in 2021.
DMCC is the UAE’s largest free trade zone located in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers district of New Dubai. A wide range of commodities are traded, from precious metals like gold and diamonds to agricultural products like energy, steel, coffee, and tea. As of January, the Crypto Centre, with over 500 member companies, forms an industrial ecosystem where virtual asset and blockchain companies gather.
These companies include major global virtual asset exchanges such as Binance, Crypto.com, and Bybit. Crypto.com opened a base office in Dubai last spring, and Bybit moved its headquarters from Singapore to Dubai in March last year after obtaining a virtual asset business operator license. While Binance’s headquarters location is unclear, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, has stated that “Dubai and Paris are (Binance’s) global hubs.”
The influx of major crypto companies to Dubai is expected to continue this year. Deribit, considered the world’s largest virtual asset derivatives exchange, is planning to expand to Dubai.
David Dumen, CRO (Chief Regulatory Officer) of Deribit, told Bloomberg on the 25th (local time). Domestically, Wemade recently announced the establishment of a UAE corporation to enter the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
The UAE is actively supporting virtual asset and blockchain companies with the goal of attracting over 1,000 blockchain and metaverse companies and creating 40,000 jobs by 2030. The Crypto Centre has partnered with Brinc, a global VC company, to provide member companies with opportunities to receive investment from a $150 million (approximately 1.846 trillion won) fund.
Although some regulations were strengthened in the licensing process after the FTX incident, the UAE also has no corporate information disclosure obligations. Furthermore, a government-level pro-blockchain stance continues, such as forming partnerships with companies to issue tokens based on gold bars traded at DMCC.
said an industry insider in the virtual asset sector.
In reality, KOTRA’s Dubai Trade Office recently cautioned that as interest in virtual assets and IT has increased, leading to more government investment agency officials and entrepreneurs visiting Korea to seek investment opportunities, fraud crimes using trade, investment, and loans as bait are rampant, centered around Dubai.
