As a key center of FinTech innovation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is home to a growing number of exchanges and platforms dealing in crypto assets.
Read more: The UAE’s Increasing Role as a Regional FinTech Hub
As the country’s two largest cities, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have emerged as hubs for crypto asset technology, some real estate developers in the country announced that they would start accepting payments in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH).
In response, the UAE government announced on Monday (Aug. 8) that estate agents will have to alert money laundering authorities of any property sales paid for entirely or in part with cryptocurrency, per a CoinDesk report on Monday (Aug. 8).
The new rules will leave “little or no room for manipulation or illegal practices that could negatively impact the work environment and the economy and investment” in the real estate and legal sectors, UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri said in a statement.
They will apply to brokers, agents and law firms, which will be required to file reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit, which is responsible for tracking illicit funds in the country. Rules will also apply when buyers attempt to pay in cash worth over AED 55,000 (around $15,000).
As Reuters reported in March, UAE-based crypto firms have been inundated with requests to liquidate billions of dollars in crypto, with Russians looking to move their money in the face of global sanctions.
The report stated that some clients have been using crypto to invest in real estate in the UAE, while others want to use Emirati firms to turn their virtual money into fiat currency before transferring it elsewhere.
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