The Middle East, Africa & Asia Association will support the digital assets sector across key markets. Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates launched a new crypto and blockchain-focused association within the free economic zone. The association aims to further the development of a blockchain and crypto ecosystem which is compliant, transparent, and accessible. The launch was based in Abu Dhabi’s city centre, focusing on the Middle Eastern, North African, and Asian regions.
The Middle East, Africa and Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA) is a non-profit organisation that officially launched on November 8 2022. The association was established in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), which has cross-industry representation with goals of education, innovation, and coordination for participants around the crypto and blockchain ecosystem. The zone was planned to develop the growth of fintech firms in the UAE with its own set of commercial and civil laws.
The MEAACBA will be led by board chairman Jehanzeb Awan, the architect of an international risk and compliance consulting company based in Dubai. According to Awan, he hopes the organisation will bring collaboration and a community-based approach to grow the industry in the Mena region. The board chairman said, "MEAACBA will bring the expertise, connections and gravitas needed to build wide-reaching gains for this highly dynamic and exciting space. We are devoted to helping all businesses succeed and thrive and educating the global community. This will be delivered by corporate experts sharing knowledge through courses, webinars and events. The industry will gain from the association as it supplies a coordination mechanism between regulators, government agencies, banks, tax, legal and advisory companies to address the most pressing challenges." Awana added that he hopes that the association will "create wide-reaching benefits for this highly dynamic and thrilling space."
The association will be supported by Binance's regional head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Richard Teng, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and chairman Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Crypto.com's general manager of Middle East and Africa, Stuart Isted, and the CEO of BitOasis, a cryptocurrency exchange in the region, Ola Doudin. According to Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, "Abu Dhabi, and the UAE, is a leader in developing innovative and compliant crypto and blockchain markets, showing how these can be part of a growing financial services sector. We are satisfied to be able to support MEAACBA, which will contribute towards growing this dynamic sector."
Richard Teng added, "We have always said that good regulation is good for crypto, and bad regulation will be bad for the industry. Therefore, we welcome and want to be a part of beginnings like MEAACBA, which addresses difficult questions via collaboration and education. The best way forward for our corporation is to be broad and to build trust with our users." The MEAACBA membership is open to all firms and individuals across MEA and Asia involved in the blockchain and crypto space. This incorporates but is not bound to exchanges, custodians, regulators, consulting firms, technology developers, digital asset traders and Metaverse/NFT companies.
In September 2022, the financial regulator of ADGM's free economic zone published a set of instructing principles on its approach to operating the regulatory twists presented to it by the digital asset industry. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) led to the launch of MEAACBA, with principles said to be crypto-friendly but are still compliant with strict international standards on Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) by the United Nations. Reports revealed that the association would host competitions to find companies to develop solutions for real economic problems. The winners will be allowed to receive industry support and connect with investors.
About MENA
MENA is an acronym for grouping countries in and around the Middle East and North Africa. The region shares several cultural, economic, and environmental similarities across its countries. Recent reports and platforms like Bitcode Method concur that MENA is one of the fastest-growing regions in the global cryptocurrency market. Most of the countries counted in MENA have been doing very well in the cryptocurrency space leading to an increase of 48% in transactional volume of $566 billion in just 12 months.
The association also aims to address sustainability issues in the cryptocurrency sector, which has faced a backlash for its massive energy consumption. According to a senior executive at Binance, functioning on environmentally friendly systems will make people more comfortable getting involved with cryptocurrency. Co-founder and chief executive of MidChains, also said that the strategy of MEAACBA will help advance financial inclusivity in cooperation with local authorities, as regulation will be the most significant gate for mainstream adoption. We are rooting for MEAACBA as it starts this project with the hope that it fulfils all the goals that are set up. This article is for educational purposes and does not serve as legal advice.
