I'm Lawrence Wintermeyer.
Welcome to FinTech TV at Abu Dhabi Finance Week.
I'm absolutely delighted to be joined by Irina Heaver, who's a crypto lawyer in the region and been here for 18 years.
Welcome, Arena.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's a pleasure.
It's, it's just a treat because I love this space myself.
So, uh, give us an idea of the regulatory landscape for crypto here in the Emirates.
I would say, and of course I'm slightly biased, that is the number one crypto hub.
So if you're a founder out there looking to build a global crypto venture, is the place for you.
There's plenty of choices.
There's plenty of regulators.
There's plenty of economic free zones, free zones, financial free zones, and if If you establish yourself here in the UAE and you happen to get regulated in Abu Dhabi here or in Dubai, you can have access to 4 billion people, the global South as we call it, and if you're a founder in the crypto space, this is what you need.
You need access to large communities, and this is what the UIE provides that spring into the huge global communities all over the world.
So, bring your crypto businesses here, get regulated, access 4 billion people.
That's pretty compelling for opposition.
Where, where is the regulatory landscape with respect to here in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and what, what are some of the sort of bigger trends that you're seeing in, in that reg space from industry?
That's a very good question, and the question I get asked 5 times a day.
I actually got so tired of being asked the same question that I wrote a book on the UAE crypto laws, and I wrote it for founders before the interview, and I wrote it specifically for founders because our regulatory landscape in the UAE is very complicated.
We are a small country, around 10 million people, but we have 5 regulators.
We have.
Federal one central bank and Security and Commodity Authority, who regulate commodity contracts, securities, and in addition, virtual assets.
We also have a purpose-built regulator in Dubai called VARRA, and of course they are a financial free zone DIC with their regulator and ADGM here where we're standing with their own regulator FSRA, so.
Choices are plenty.
There's one thing that we have in the UAE for crypto founders are the choices.
We have 45 economic free zones.
We have 2 financial free zones, 45 economic free zones.
45 economic number keeps going up, doesn't it?
It is.
It's a compelling business model.
People buying.
That's why you.
Have more of something right if people are buying it, if people are wanting it, and there are several free zones specifically dedicated for crypto and web 3 and AI even businesses.
So and then we have 3 offshore zones.
So choices choice choices are plenty.
However, you have to.
Navigate their choice smartly.
If you establish in the wrong free zone under the wrong regulator, you might inadvertently break the laws, and the fines are very heavy.
A new central bank law establishes fines up to 1 billion dirhams for certain infringements and a criminal penalty.
This is what I don't want you to be.
End up in that situation.
So if you come in the UAE, if you're looking to do business here, comply with the laws.
That is non-negotiable.
This is not a wild west.
Got it.
And then, so we quickly wrap up here, what are the one or 23 things we want to keep our eye on going into 2026 in your space?
I think tokenization of real world assets is a huge trend.
Everything is being tokenized.
In 2018, we said everything will be tokenized and traded. chain we were not wrong.
We were just early.
We were just a little bit too early.
Now is the time when everything is getting tokenized.
Securities are getting tokenized under the auspice of Security and Commodity Authority.
Commodities, art is being tokenized.
Properties are being tokenized.
Everything is being tokenized.
However, we still see very little liquidity levels, so I think things will improve.
Also, we see more regulatory action, more enforcements against.
The corpetrators, and I think in 2026 we will see even more of that.
And then of course AI is taking over.
So you'll be sleeping and your AI agent is trading on your behalf.
That would be a very interesting makes more money than I do, so I look forward to that.
But that would make for a very interesting legal case.
Irina Heaver, thanks so much for joining us here at FinTech TV at Abu Dhabi Finance Reader.
It's just lovely speaking to you about this.
Thank you so much for having me.
