An executive from the Ras Al Khaimah Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO) in the United Arab Emirates spoke about approaches to crypto regulations and how the free economic zone aims to foster innovation in the digital assets space.
At the Future Blockchain Summit event in Dubai, Cointelegraph spoke with RAK DAO chief commercial officer Luc Froehlich on how the UAE free zone approaches crypto regulation. Froehlich said that beyond licensing, the crypto-focused free zone also tries to find ways to help businesses grow. He explained:
“The objective is not just to sell licenses and say, ‘Okay, take my license and good luck.’ It’s actually to partner with them to help them grow and identify the partners around them that can help them develop their business.”
The executive highlighted that they are working toward having a “point of convergence” for different players in the crypto space.
“The realization has increasingly been that you need to have a point of convergence. We need to have people coming to one place to generate and execute new ideas,” Froehlich added.
RAK DAO’s Luc Froehlich (right) with Cointelegraph reporter Ezra Reguerra (left) at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai. Source: Luna PR
Attracting talent to develop the local crypto space
Froehlich, who also worked in Hong Kong, said that talented people live in mainland China, but there are limitations when working in blockchain and crypto. He added that Europe can also be a “challenging environment” for crypto projects.
The executive also highlighted that there has been an exodus of talent from the United States as regulators have been unable to provide clarity to key players but have been facilitating a regulation-by-enforcement approach. Froehlich explained:
“I do believe that there is a need for clarity when it comes to the regulation. It cannot be regulation by enforcement. We’ve seen how it works out in the US, and it was just an exodus of talent. Very sad for the industry because it just puts us down literally a few years down.”
While there are many issues in many jurisdictions across the globe, the executive believes that this presents an opportunity for the UAE to attract global crypto talent.
Increased interest in tokenization and gaming
When asked about trends they are seeing in the local crypto space, the executive said there has been a focus on Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization and gaming. Froehlich said:
“I think now we’re coming to a point with real-world asset tokenization, where there are credible projects that we are engaging with who could be helping with the economic development of Ras Al-Khaimah and the UAE.”
On May 6, casino operator Wynn announced the opening of a gaming resort at the Ras Al-Khaimah in 2027. Because of this, Froehlich believes that blockchain-based projects would flock into the emirate on the back of the new development.
“There are a lot of side projects or by-products that touch the gaming side and attract interest,” he explained.
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