News Roundup — UAE Central Bank Approves New System to Monitor and License Stablecoins

Major news stories this week;

1. UAE Central Bank Approves New System to Monitor and License Stablecoins
2. BTC Price Came 3% Away From Charting New ATH as Bitcoin ETF Inflow Streak Breaks Record
3. Binance reinstates crypto buys via Mastercard
4. Crystal Opens New Office in Dubai to Support Crypto Industry
5. Australia Gets First Spot ETF that Holds Bitcoin Directly

Story Summaries;

1. During the meeting, the board approved issuing a regulation for overseeing and licensing stablecoins. In an interview with local media Unlock Blockchain, KARM Legal Consultants founder Kokila Alagh explained that the regulations clarify the issuance, licensing and supervision of dirham-backed payment tokens. In addition, the UAE lawyer said that payment tokens must be backed by UAE dirhams and cannot be linked to other currencies, digital assets or algorithms. She added that merchants and service providers can only accept dirham-backed tokens and no other virtual assets.
2. After a relatively quiet and sluggish weekend, bitcoin’s price started moving north once again at the start of the business week and kept rising until it popped to $71,767 (on Bitstamp) yesterday evening. This came amid the growing inflows toward most US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs, as yesterday saw nearly $500 million being poured in. Even Grayscale’s GBTC saw positive flows.
3. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, will once again allow its customers to purchase cryptocurrencies using Mastercard. Binance has resumed cryptocurrency purchases via bank transfers using Mastercard debit and credit cards for “smooth transactions,” according to a June 6 X post. On the Binance platform, the “buy crypto” options via Mastercard have been reenabled, with a maximum one-time purchase of up to 5,000 euros, worth approximately $5,440 for euro-based transactions, and up to $20,000 for United States dollar-based purchases.
4. Crystal, a company specializing in blockchain analytics, compliance, and risk monitoring, has announced the opening of a new office at the Dubai World Trade Centre. This move demonstrates the firm's intention to support the more than 1,400 Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in the region. Crystal, which collaborates with several Dubai-based virtual asset firms, plans to use this new office to enhance its operations and provide comprehensive services to the expanding crypto industry in Dubai and the Middle East.
5. Australia's first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to launch on the Cboe Australia exchange. Monochrome Asset Management is the first to receive approval under new crypto asset licensing rules in Australia. The ETF will hold Bitcoin directly and its holdings will be stored offline in a device not connected to the internet. Unlike US counterparts, the ETF allows in-kind redemption from investors. Monochrome CEO anticipates strong interest and is ready to build and launch an Ether (ETH) ETF.

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And that’s all for last week’s news! Wishing you a great week ahead!

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