UAE-based RAKBANK will enable one of the leading digital asset exchanges, Kraken, to offer AED-based digital asset trading to their customers. Kraken received a license to operate a regulated virtual asset exchange platform in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

Residents can trade virtual assets in the local currency using their local bank accounts. As regulated by the Central Bank of UAE, RAKBANK will enable Kraken to have UAE-based clients fund their crypto accounts through local funds from any bank in the UAE.  

Currently, UAE residents trading virtual assets use banks or foreign correspondents outside the nation to fund their trading. As a result, they incur foreign exchange costs and fees, experience long lead times (more than 24 hours), and are subject to overseas-jurisdiction asset governance. 

Through this partnership, UAE investors can fund their accounts faster and at lesser costs, all while remaining within the country’s jurisdiction, RAKBANK said in a statement.

“This is another step towards our goal of making banking simpler and easier through innovation,” said Raheel Ahmed, chief executive officer of RAKBANK.

“Investors in the UAE will soon be able to directly participate and invest in the crypto market. Our solution is safer, more secure, more efficient, and reduces costs. Alongside our partners at RAKBANK and under the pioneering regulatory oversight of the ADGM, we are about to make our vision of AED-denominated crypto trading in the UAE a reality,” said Benjamin Ampen, Managing Director for Kraken MENA, in a statement. 

Most Innovative Companies comes to the Middle East this October! Click here to know more.