Binance Seeks Licence To Operate In Dubai; EU Says Crypto Under Sanctions in Russia

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is reportedly holding talks with higher-level Dubai officials to operate in the city, reported Bloomberg. Dubai had recently passed a new law regarding the governance of various virtual assets. Binance hopes to operate in the Dubai World Trade Centre free zone. Meanwhile, the European Union has clarified that crypto assets fall under the category of ‘transferable securities’ and that they too are under the sanctions imposed by them upon Russia and Belarus. In a generous humanitarian effort, crypto exchange Kraken has decided to give $1000 to people from Ukraine who open their accounts from March 9 to July 1.

The global crypto market cap increased by 2.22 per cent to $1.8 trillion at 8.20 am. The global crypto volume too increased by 21.84 per cent to $97.17 billion, as per Coinmarketcap data. 

Cryptocurrency Prices

Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s oldest cryptocurrency, was trading at $40,887.78, higher by 3.83 per cent in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, was also up by 1.67 per cent at $2,670.03.

“Bitcoin has rebounded by about 3 per cent in the last 24 hours. Ether and other major altcoins are in the green as well. This upside momentum is a result of US President Joe Biden’s executive order on cryptocurrency has overtaken other global uncertainties worrying the market, at the moment,” says Gaurav Dahake, CEO and founder, Bitbns.

Among other major coins, Cardano (ADA) was up by 1.7 per cent at $0.8268, Algorand (ALGO) by 0.78 per cent at $0.7589, Binance Coin (BNB) was down by 0.22 per cent at $387.60, Solana (SOL) was up by 2.02 per cent at $86.06 and Polkadot (DOT) was trading higher by 1.02 per cent at $17.51.

Today’s top gainer was Kawakami (KAWA), which was up by 574.59 per cent at $0.000001448. The top loser was Purfect Network (PUR), which was down by 99.78 per cent at $0.0001349.

Meme Coin And DeFi Prices

Dogecoin (DOGE) was up by 0.4 per cent at $0.1196; its volume to market cap ratio stands at 0.0336. Rival Shiba Inu (SHIB) also was up by 0.02 per cent at $0.00002321.

Dogelon Mars (ELON) was trading with a gain of 1.41 per cent at $0.0000007259. Floki Inu (FLOKI) was also up by 3.39 per cent at $0.00003068, while Samoyed Coin (SAMO) gained 2.41 per cent at $0.01918.

In the DeFi segment, YFI (yearn.finance) was trading with a gain of 0.58 per cent at $19,795.62. While Terra (LUNA) was up by 5.84 per cent at $97.19. Avalanche (AVAX) gained 0.07 per cent to $75.81, Uniswap (UNI) lost 1.76 per cent to trade at $9.00, and Aave (AAVE) lost 0.67 per cent to $124.70.

Latest Updates

In December last year, Binance signed an agreement with Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) to develop and establish Dubai as a global hub for various virtual global assets. Now Binance hopes to get a licence to operate as a virtual asset service provider in the Dubai World Trade Centre free zone, reported Coindesk.

In a press release the European Union clarified that crypto falls under the transferable securities category, “For Belarus, the measures introduce SWIFT prohibitions similar to those in the Russia regime, clarify that crypto-assets fall under the scope of “transferable securities” and further expand the existing financial restrictions by mirroring the measures already in place regarding Russia sanctions,” said the press release.

Kraken said that the new Ukrainian users on its exchange platform will get $1,000 in Bitcoin and they can withdraw this immediately too without any currency conversion fee since they have specifically waived it. “We hope to continue being able to provide critical financial services in a time of need to both our clients in Ukraine and in Russia,” said Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken in a blogpost.