CoinMena, the Sharia-compliant crypto assets trading platform, has secured a provisional virtual assets licence to operate in Dubai.
The digital assets exchange company, which is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, has obtained the provisional licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (Vara).
The move will allow CoinMena to continue its operations in Dubai while it undertakes the in-depth process of applying for a licence, in accordance with official requirements, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“We are pleased to welcome CoinMena to the growing virtual asset ecosystem in Dubai. Vara is committed to supporting leading regional enterprises dedicated to building strong foundations for this future economy,” said Helal Almarri, director general of the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority, which houses Vara.
“We appreciate the knowledge and experience that CoinMena brings as a platform focused on the Mena [Middle East and North Africa] region and look forward to their active participation as Vara builds a best-in-class virtual assets regulatory environment in the UAE, for the world.”
Vara serves as the single custodial entity mandated to licence and govern the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector in Dubai, including all mainland and free zones, excluding the autonomous Financial Free Zone at the Dubai International Financial Centre.
In March, Dubai adopted the first law in the emirate that regulates virtual assets. In the same month, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the regulator of the emirate’s financial hub, published its regulatory framework overseeing crypto tokens, or cryptocurrencies, for public consultation.
The Middle East is one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in the world. It received $271.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2020 and June 2021, which represents 6.6 per cent of global activity, Chainalysis data show.
Founded in 2019, Manama-based CoinMena secured a licence to operate from Bahrain's central bank in January last year. It lets users buy, sell, store and receive digital assets securely, as well as deposit and withdraw in their local currency.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Indian construction workers stranded in Ajman with unpaid dues
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
