United Arab Emirates has made significant updates to its judicial approach to cryptocurrency. The Dubai First Instance Court has recognized that wages paid in cryptocurrency are valid under employment contracts. Irina Heaver, a partner at UAE law firm NeosLegal, explained that the ruling in Case No. 1739 of 2024 shows that the court has taken a different stance from earlier in 2023, when similar claims were rejected due to the lack of accurate valuation of the cryptocurrency involved. Heaver believes this demonstrates a "progressive approach" to integrating digital currencies into the country's legal and economic framework. The case recently mentioned by Heaver involves an employee who sued their employer for non-payment of wages, illegal termination compensation, and other benefits. What makes this case unique is that the employee's employment contract not only includes traditional statutory currency wages, but also specifies that 5,250 EcoWatt tokens should be paid as part of their salary each month. The dispute centered around the fact that the employer failed to pay the EcoWatt token portion of the wages as per the contract within six months. In 2023, the court first recognized the validity of the EcoWatt tokens in the contract, but did not force the employer to pay in cryptocurrency as the employee could not provide a clear method of converting the tokens into fiat currency. However, in 2024, the court "took an important step" on this issue. It made a ruling favorable to the employee, explicitly requiring the employer to pay wages directly in cryptocurrency as per the employment contract, without the need for conversion to fiat currency. Heaver stated that this ruling not only reflects the court's increasing acceptance of cryptocurrency in employment contracts, but also emphasizes the court's recognition of the transformative nature of financial transactions in the Web3 economy.

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