US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is expanding its geography, Now the company will open an office in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, after receiving a license to operate as a regulated trading platform in the country.
Kraken will thus become the first cryptocurrency exchange to offer trading in UAE dirham pairs if local regulators approve the transaction.
Kraken was launched in 2011 and operates in more than sixty countries. The company said that opening an office in the UAE is a bet on a lucrative and growing region. The Middle East is one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency markets in the world, accounting for 7% of global trading volumes (according to analyst firm Chainalysis).
Annual cryptocurrency trading volume in the UAE reaches $25 billion. According to Chainalysis data studied between July 2020 and June 2021, the country ranks third in the region, behind Lebanon (about $26 billion) and Turkey ($132.4 billion).
