Dubai, 3rd of May 2022: Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced its debut in the Metaverse by establishing its headquarters in the dynamic virtual world of the Sandbox.
Known for its visionary Leadership, Dubai is the first city to have the world’s first Regulator making its entry into the Metaverse to ensure that it gains access to its industry within the virtual environment. VRA will facilitate the collaboration and engagement between the various stakeholders, such as industry thought leaders, other regulatory authorities, and global Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). To help Dubai establish a prototype decentralized regulatory model, the city expands Vara’s resources to an international audience to build future digital economies.
Vara was established, under the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law, the first law in the emirates that regulates virtual assets, which was issued on the 28th of February 2022 and came into effect on the 11th of March 2022.
VARA is expected to regulate the governing principles of the services and activities, rather than the constantly evolving products and underlying technologies, to provide a secure and progressive operating framework for the virtual asset (VA) sector to scale while assuring market and investor protection. This step underscores the Dubai Government’s belief in virtual assets as a vital component of the future digital economy and its determination to establish the Emirate as the world’s virtual assets capital.
VARA’s MetaHQ will use the Sandbox platform, the Ethereum blockchain-based application backed by Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank, allowing users to create, sell and purchase digital assets.
As per the National news, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, stated: “The bold move will be ushering a new era that will see the Dubai government leverage modern innovations to extend its services and regulatory power to audiences in an open technological expanse, without constraints or borders.” The Crown Prince added, “Dubai maintains a leading position at the forefront of technological transformation. We have exceeded the role of an early adopter to become an innovator and participant in shaping the future of this technology,” Sheikh Hamdan said.
Screenshot: Tweet of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed on the 3rd of May 2022
VARA MetaHQ will be its primary channel for engaging VASPs around the world to initiate applications, allow licensees to enter the Metaverse, and openly share knowledge and experiences with consumers and peer regulators to raise awareness, enable safe adoption, and drive global interoperability.
The introduction of the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law was a significant step forward in the UAE’s nascent virtual asset market, and the VARA’s intervention in the Metaverse will undoubtedly contribute to the worldwide regulatory push that will finally propel the industry into widespread usage. However, it is important to see how the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law and VARA interact with the current Dubai and federal laws and other agencies.
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- Key Contact Mrs. Malak Trabelsi Loeb, Trabelsi Loeb Legal Consultants
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