Dubai’s Royal Family firm partnered with CoinCorner to facilitate Bitcoin transactions

British Bitcoin trading desk CoinCorner has partnered with Seed Group, a company owned by Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum’s family office, to enter into the Dubai and broader Middle East crypto exchange market. Meanwhile, Binance has secured a license from Dubai’s crypto regulator (VARA) to offer a range of crypto-related services in the city.

According to a statement on Sert. 21, CoinCorner plans to create a Bitcoin trading platform for UAE residents to trade Bitcoin. The Bitcoin trading desk also has plans to develop crypto solutions for businesses in the country.

The platform already offers support for transactions on the Lightning Network, one of the scaling solutions being developed for the Bitcoin network where transactions are faster and cheaper.

“We are committed to making Bitcoin transactions the ‘new normal’ in the UAE with the help of our unique solutions facilitating instant and frictionless payments,” Danny Scott, co-founder of CoinCorner, said in the statement.

The partnership will create a framework for CoinCorner to secure the required government approval, Seed Group’s announcement said.

Meanwhile, crypto exchange Binance received a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), enabling the crypto exchange to offer a range of virtual asset services to qualified retail and institutional investors, the company disclosed on Sept. 21.

The development follows the issuance of the provisional license granted in March, which permitted the company to set up an office in the UAE and provide digital asset exchange services to pre-qualified investors and financial firms.

With the new permission, Binance will be able to offer a range of virtual asset-related services to qualified retail and institutional investors under the legislative framework for virtual asset service providers (aka VASPs).

It will also permit the company to access local banking channels and provide open money accounts, virtual-fiat currency conversions, assets transfers, custody, and management, as well as token offering and trading services.