FTX Exchange taps UAE institutional investors, sees strong growth

The cryptocurrency industry has largely had a bear market in the past few months, but experts believe there is still enough room for growth.

In the Middle East and North Africa alone, some $566 billion were received by users based in the region, including Turkey and Egypt in the past 12 months. The cryptocurrency market as a whole raised $25 billion last year, a trend that many say will fuel the growth of the industry moving forward.

Mohammad Hans Dastmaltchi, chairman of FTX Exchange, is tapping institutional investors as part of the company's strategy for its launch phase in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East region.

"As soon as we announced we are regulated and are opening an office in UAE, we were contacted by big institutional organisations in the Emirates, from across a wide range of industries, such as airline, hospitality, finance and real estate, among many others," said Dastmaltchi.

"Because Dubai and the UAE have done such an impressive job setting up the regulatory framework, institutional investors who are committed to compliance are now able to look at getting into digital assets as a whole. And because FTX, the most regulated exchange in the world and the fastest growing in the market, has a well-established reputation among institutional investors and professional traders, we are in talks with several to get them on board through our Middle East platform," he added.

FTX Exchange secured a licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (Vara) in July, becoming the first virtual asset services provider to receive a minimum viable product (MVP) licence in Dubai.

This does not mean, however, that FTX will completely ignore the retail market.

"Without a doubt, business coming from the retail space will be just as valuable, but initially targeting institutional investors, will enable us to focus on stabilising our systems and ensure that the platform is operating to the best standards of security and transparency, as well as provide the utmost value and consumer experience," said Balsam Danhach, Head of Operations MENA, FTX.

Both Dastmaltchi and Danhach expressed optimism about prospects for growth in the future. In the region as well as internationally, financial institutions and large corporations are allocating capital for investments in the digital assets space.

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- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai