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Binance Is Helping Dubai Become The World’s Crypto Capital
The goal is to create a special crypto zone and provide assistance to crypto-related businesses that are interested in becoming licensed in Dubai.
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has recently signed a deal with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) to create an ecosystem for cryptocurrencies and other global virtual assets.
“With the MoU, Binance will help advance Dubai’s commitment to establishing a new international Virtual Asset ecosystem that will generate long-term economic growth through digital innovation” said the Binance team in a statement. “Binance believes that Dubai’s new agenda will contribute to the growth of the global economy”.
To achieve this goal, Binance and DWTCA want to create a special crypto zone and provide assistance to crypto exchanges, businesses that offer blockchain, and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) services that are interested in becoming licensed in Dubai.
Because Dubai doesn’t want to associate itself with illegal activity, DWTCA will additionally act as a regulator and enforce investor protection standards, as well as anti-money laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) laws.
At this point, we don’t know when the crypto zone will become operational. Binance and DWTCA have so far only signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that outlines their shared vision, but many technical and regulatory details have certainly yet to be worked out.
Also Read: 5 Gaming Cryptos That Will Explode In 2023
The project could be affected by the large regulatory pressure Binance is currently facing from regulators around the world.
For example, the Dutch central bank accused it of not complying with AML and CFT laws, the US Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service is probing the exchange to investigate money laundering and tax offenses, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has banned the Binance Group from operating in the UK, and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a warning to consumers, stressing that the company isn’t licensed to conduct regulated activity in Hong Kong.
It’s possible that Binance, which describes itself as a decentralized company with a global presence and whose corporate structure is opaque at best, is interested in establishing the crypto zone in Dubai to create a safe haven for itself.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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