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OKX Middle East Receives MVP Preparatory License From VARA in Dubai – Blockchain News, Opinion, TV and Jobs

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UAE to serve as strategic global and regional business hub, OKX to expand to 30 staff

OKX, the second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume and a leading Web3 technology company, today announced that OKX Middle East Fintech FZE (OKX Middle East) has received a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Preparatory license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).

The UAE is a key strategic growth and business hub for OKX globally and in the region, and the company plans to scale OKX Middle East’s operations. As part of this effort, OKX has opened a new office in Dubai World Trade Center, and will seek to expand its number of Dubai staff to 30 with a focus on local hires and senior management. OKX also plans to extend its nine-figure brand partnerships to the UAE with customer and fan-focused activations and activities.

The MVP preparatory licence allows approved licensees to fulfill all pre-conditions required to undertake MVP operations within the VARA regime. Once licensed to be operational, OKX Middle East will be able to extend its approved suite of duly regulated virtual assets activities and will provide spot, derivatives, and fiat services, including USD and AED deposits, withdrawals and spot-pairs, to institutional and qualified retail customers.

OKX Global Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai said: “We’re thrilled to receive the MVP preparatory license from VARA. Regulated entities are the future of digital assets and capital markets and Dubai and VARA have succeeded in creating a unique environment where VASPs can thrive. With the expansion into a new office this year, we are focused on hiring local staff and senior management. The MENA region has incredible potential as a center of excellence for Web3 and virtual assets, we look forward to the opportunity to expand the already growing ecosystem across the region.”

OKX Global Head of Government Relations Tim Byun said: “Dubai and VARA are world leaders in crypto regulation by establishing the most timely, comprehensive and built from-the-ground-up framework for virtual assets and Web3. Licensing in Dubai is a critical element of OKX’s global regulatory compliance strategy. In today’s uncertain market environment, it’s of the utmost importance for VASPs to be highly secure, transparent, compliant and backed by strong, clear regulation. Under VARA’s comprehensive framework, all operators must meet high standards of compliance, risk management, security and consumer protection, benchmarked against well-known existing regulatory principles for traditional financial services. This provides confidence to operators and customers alike, and positions the crypto and Web3 industry in MENA for increased participation and overall growth in the near and long term.”

OKX Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique said: “We’ve been waiting to enter the UAE and we want people here to experience our products first hand. We’re different – we do things in a measured and transparent manner. May was our seventh consecutive month of publishing our proof of reserves, making us the only crypto exchange globally with that commitment. We’ve done that while out-innovating the industry in Web3 with our leading decentralized ecosystem. We’ve also launched numerous new security features while adding more depth in markets. This attitude is consistent with the brand partners who represent us, Manchester City Football Club, McLaren Racing, and the Tribeca Festival. We take our time, and do things the right way.”

For more information on OKX, please visit OKX.com.

OKX is a world-leading technology company building the future of Web3. Known as one of the fastest and most reliable crypto trading platforms for investors and professional traders everywhere, OKX’s crypto exchange is the second largest globally by trading volume and is trusted by more than 50 million users.

OKX’s leading self-custody solutions include the Web3-compatible OKX Wallet, which allows users greater control of their assets while expanding access to DEXs, NFT marketplaces, DeFi, GameFi and thousands of dApps.

OKX partners with a number of the world’s top brands and athletes, including: English Premier League champions Manchester City F.C., McLaren Formula 1, The Tribeca Festival, golfer Ian Poulter, Olympian Scotty James, and F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo.

OKX is committed to transparency and security and publishes its Proof of Reserves on a monthly basis.

Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] is the world’s first specialized regulator for the Virtual Assets sector. Established in March 2022, following the effect of Law No.4 of 2022, VARA is the competent entity in charge of regulating, supervising, and overseeing VAs and VA activities in all zones across the Emirate of Dubai, including Special Development Zones and Free Zones but excluding the Dubai International Financial Centre.

VARA plays a central role in creating Dubai’s advanced legal framework to protect investors and establish international standards for Virtual Asset industry governance, while supporting the vision for a borderless economy.

This announcement is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide any investment, tax, or legal advice, nor should it be considered an offer to purchase, sell, or hold digital assets. Digital assets, including stablecoins, involve a high degree of risk, can fluctuate greatly, and can even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professional for questions about your specific circumstances.

For more information on OKX, please visit OKX.com.

Contact

Marc Rognon
[email protected]



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Blockchain

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT sued for libel after claiming plaintiff drained funds from project

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2 hours ago

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June 16, 2023

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Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has been sued for libel by one of the people he accused of fraud, according to a June 16 social media post. According to the post, Jeffrey Huang, known as “MachiBigBrother” on Twitter, has accused ZachXBT of damaging his reputation through false allegations.

MachiBigBrother also posted an announcement stating that he is suing the on-chain sleuth.

ZachXBT responded to the lawsuit by calling it “baseless” and “an attempt to chill free speech.” He pledged to “fight back” against it.

In a thread responding to his own post, ZachXBT linked to the Medium post that is accused of being libelous. Titled “22,000 ETH Embezzled and Over Ten Projects Failed: The Story of Machi Big Brother (Jeff Huang),” the article accused Huang of launching “over 10 failed pump and dump tokens and NFT projects,” including treasury management service Formosa Financial.

One of the claims made in the article is that Formosa Financial co-founder George Hsieh removed 11,000 Ether (ETH) from the project’s treasury:

“Formosa Financial took a turn for the worse when two withdrawals of 11,000 ETH each were made from the Formosa Financial treasury wallet on June 22nd 2018. Unbeknownst to investors, cofounder George Hsieh acting as the sole director of the company, pushing a share buyback through himself, executing on both sides.”

The article claimed that Hsieh subsequently left the project, leaving other officers in charge. According to ZachXBT, the funds drained from the treasury were sent to numerous other wallet accounts shortly afterwards, including one that also received funds from ENS domain harrisonhuang.eth.

In combination with other blockchain data, ZachXBT concluded that “these addresses tie back to Jeff Huang/Mithril.” ZachXBT blamed Jeff Huang for the draining of funds, stating “This chart displays the ETH inflows of angel/private round funds into the multisig before the two 11,000 ETH withdrawals were made by Jeff and George on June 22, 2018.”

Related: Project takes off with $31.6M in alleged exit scam

Cointelegraph has obtained the complaint filed June 15 on behalf of Jeffrey Huang in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. In it, Huang’s attorney claims that his client did not drain funds from the Formosa Financial Project, stating:

“Not only did Plaintiff not embezzle funds from the Formosa Financial project, he also never had control of any Formosa Financial funds, making embezzlement factually impossible. Indeed, on information and belief, Defendant understood perfectly well that, as a mere outside adviser to the Formosa Financial project, Plaintiff would have no way of directly accessing the allegedly stolen funds in the first place.”

Furthermore, Huang’s legal team claimed that the founders of the project were most likely the ones who stole the ETH from the treasury, as ZachXBT’s arguments “fail to account for the much more likely and obvious explanation that company insiders, rather than an outside advisor like Plaintiff, coordinated to orchestrate the transfers.”

The lawsuit also claims that ZachXBT earns money from donations as a result of his work as an on-chain sleuth, which it alleges is the real reason that he published the article.

In his June 16 Twitter thread, ZachXBT denied these allegations, stating that Huang is trying to “silence” him. “It is sickening to see it come to this,” ZachXBT stated, “but I knew one day this would happen as the price of telling the truth is sometimes people dislike what you say.”

ZachXBT has previously revealed data on many different crypto scams and exploits. On June 10, he identified activity associated with $1 million in crypto drained through Twitter phishing scams. On June 4, he revealed estimates that $35 million had been lost from an exploit of the Atomic Wallet app.