Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced the termination of operations in the United Arab Emirates, as well as support for retail and institutional clients in this region of the world.
For the first time, information about the possible termination of the Kraken exchange operations in the UAE became public in early February. At that time, the exchange was completing a similar stage of exit from the Japanese market, going through the deregistration procedure with the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA).
As the media later learned, information about the dismissal of staff and the closure of the exchange office in Abu Dhabi was confirmed.
“Kraken regularly reviews the direction of its activities to ensure that it uses resources around the world for the best. The exchange is suspending all customer support – both retail and institutional – in this region of the world, ”a representative of the exchange said.
While all trading activities against the UAE dirham (AED) will be suspended, the exchange’s existing clients in the UAE will continue to have access to the platform. Client deposits denominated in AED will be automatically converted into USD and can then be either withdrawn or used to continue trading at the user’s discretion.
In February, the CEO of Kraken issued an open address to the crypto community, stating that US financial regulators are specifically “supporting the bad guys,” those businessmen and startups who are “seeking to destroy the cryptocurrency world.”
