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Dubai Adopts Its First Cryptocurrency Legislation
Dubai Police will start using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology to analyze the blockchain ledgers.
Like all technology, cryptocurrency can be used for both legitimate and nefarious purposes.
To establish Dubai as a cryptocurrency leader with a positive influence on the entire market, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has recently announced the adoption of the first legislation in the UAE to regulate cryptocurrency assets.
To oversee the execution of the new law and serve as a regulator of crypto activities, the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) has been set up in Dubai. One of VARA’s main responsibilities is the monitoring of virtual asset transactions to prevent price manipulations and other financial crimes. That’s no easy task to accomplish because popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are pseudonymous, allowing asset holders to keep their real identities hidden.
Fortunately for VARA, Dubai Police’s cybercrime unit has been developing and using cutting-edge technology to make sense of virtual asset transactions.
“Technology is changing the world, and law enforcement is a part of that change. In order to combat crime, we are constantly researching new technologies” said Brigadier Dr. Saleh Al Hamrani, Dubai Police’s Deputy Director-General of Excellence and Entrepreneurship.
More specifically, Dubai Police is using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) technology to analyze the blockchain ledgers, which are essentially growing lists of records that are linked together as blocks using cryptography.
Also Read: 5 Gaming Cryptos That Will Explode In 2023
“We are going to work on the next generation of AI technology to help predict how and what are the risks we are going to face so that we are ready both internally and externally” Brig. Dr. Saleh added. “We are working and implementing AI not only for crime but also for traffic, security at the airport, and marine security”.
In the near future, the regulator of DIFC Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is also supposed to publish its own cryptocurrency regulation, and we will definitely keep you informed about it.
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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