Social investing network eToro has secured in-principle approval to operate as an investment broker in Abu Dhabi.
The provisional green light was granted by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre.
It will allow eToro to act as a securities, derivatives and crypto broker in the UAE capital.
The move comes less than a month after Abu Dhabi established a government body to create a regulatory framework for virtual assets.
The popularity of digital and crypto assets has led to competition among the different Mena countries and emirates to become the de facto virtual assets hub for the region.
Arvind Ramamurthy, chief of markets at ADGM, said that the participation of eToro would add to the ADGM’s “vibrant and trusted ecosystem of virtual asset trading venues, global exchanges and service providers”.
Ramamurthy also referred to the ADGM as “the largest regulated jurisdiction of virtual assets in the Mena region”.
Meanwhile, eToro, which recently opened an office in Abu Dhabi, will focus on getting a full licence.
©2022 funds global mena 
Naomi Waistell, an emerging markets fund manager at Polar Capital, analyses change in Saudi Arabia – a hydrocarbon country with green ambitions and which is set on a major economic...
Although it is awash with oil and, therefore, capital, the Gulf region is at a critical juncture: it must diversify its...
