In a significant development for the local crypto sector, the United Arab Emirates has established a unified regulatory framework through an agreement between the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) and Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
According to local media, this partnership aims to streamline licensing and oversight for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) across the country, reducing duplication and ensuring consistent regulations among different emirates. The agreement includes mutual recognition of licenses, joint application reviews, and real-time information sharing to enhance compliance monitoring. Additionally, a Coordinating Committee for Legislative Review has been formed to align existing laws with international standards, promoting a secure and competitive legal environment for digital assets. This collaboration is expected to foster investor confidence and support responsible innovation in the UAE’s rapidly evolving virtual asset market.

Song accused BTC Core developers of defecting and failing to address widespread community concerns about non-monetary data on the ledger. Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin (BTC) developer and advocate, slammed the decision by Bitcoin Core developers to remove the OP_Return limit for non-monetary data embedded on the Bitcoin blockchain in the upcoming Bitcoin Core 30 upgrade, calling it “fiat” mentality.Song accused the Core developers of deflecting user concerns about removing the OP_Return limit, which is currently 80 bytes in size, and ignoring the significant pushback from the Bitcoin community and node runners. He also said:You can argue whether that's something desirable or not, but saying you can't define it is a stalling tactic meant to avoid the real argument about actual impact — particularly, the long-term impact of this change,” Song continued.Read more

