Earlier this year, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, revealed the company’s plans to expand into Dubai, commending the UAE’s regulatory efforts in the crypto sector. In addition to this expansion, Ripple secured a full license to operate in Singapore.
This week, Ripple’s ecosystem took a significant step forward, as Dubai’s independent regulator of financial services officially approved the XRP (XRP) token under its virtual assets regime, marking a notable milestone for the crypto token’s adoption.
What happened?
On November 2, Ripple announced that the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the emirate’s regulator that oversees the finance sector, gave the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) the green light to incorporate the XRP token into their virtual asset services.
The move allows institutions located in the DIFC to use XRP when making global value transfers, according to the press release. With the approval, XRP joins the list of a few cryptocurrencies approved by the DFSA, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).
“Dubai continues to demonstrate global leadership when it comes to the regulation of virtual assets and nurturing innovation. Ripple will continue to double down on its presence in Dubai and we look forward to continuing to work closely with regulators to realize crypto’s full potential.”
– said Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO.
There are more than 4,000 companies located in DIFC, the special economic zone. Ripple opened its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) headquarters in DIFC in 2020, and around 20% of the company’s customers are based in that region.
What does this mean for XRP?
Certainly, XRP’s adoption in Dubai and the broader MENA region can only be a positive development for the cryptocurrency.
This is because approvals such as this one can significantly drive the mainstream adoption of XRP, and potentially turn it into one of the most used assets for making value transfers, as well as expand its utility.
As such, XRP’s strong presence across global hubs can become a meaningful price catalyst for the token, although a potential rally would likely depend on the performance of the broader market.
At the time of writing, XRP was sitting at $0.61, down 3.1% on the day.
Over the past week, the cryptocurrency gained around 10% and roughly 19% on the month.
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