Cryptocurrency may not become a fully mainstream financial instrument until concrete regulations for the highly volatile industry are drawn up and enforced by authorities in the US, the chief executive of blockchain company Chainalysis has said.
While acknowledging that current cryptocurrency frameworks are “actually pretty good and functional”, the $2.33 trillion industry's other issues need to be addressed, especially when it comes to protecting investors and consumers, Michael Gronager told The National.
The US, the world's biggest economy that is also considered the most important financial market as the Federal Reserve sets the global tone for interest rates – should take the lead on this, he said.
“In finance, everyone looks towards to the US first trying to figure out what's going on, and then whether the regulation has already been created in other places first … it'll be changed to adapt the US framework once it's figured out,” Mr Gronager said.
“We've seen that in the past; we'll see that again with crypto. So, we are kind of waiting for the US to solve some of these things and that's where things stand today.”
The US granted the cryptocurrency sector a major victory in January when it finally approved the country’s first spot Bitcoin ETFs, clearing the way for trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the Cboe Global Markets and the Nasdaq Composite, and making Bitcoin more accessible to retail traders.
ETFs “definitely boosted the sentiment of crypto”, Mr Gronager said.
In addition, US authorities have been vigilant in clamping down on the sector, running after irregularities and illicit activity within the ranks.
Their actions have claimed some of the biggest names, including Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of FTX who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, and former Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao, who in November pled guilty to charges related to money laundering and was handed a four-month prison sentence on April 30.
“The FTX case was so unique; it was less tied to crypto and more tied to a traditional fall because everything happened behind closed doors, and was related to how that company was run by the people behind it,” Mr Gronager said.
“The lesson learned by the industry and regulators is that if it's a non-regulated business in your jurisdiction and you don't have any ways to think that your funds would be good, they're probably not good,” he added, also noting the collapses of Three Arrows and Celsius Network in 2022.
The fates of those companies, coupled with job losses at the time, triggered the so-called cryptocurrency winter, a period in which the sector cooled down, dragging Bitcoin to below its key $20,000 psychological level in June 2022 and wiping out about $2 trillion from the digital asset industry's market capitalisation.
“Celsius and Three Arrows were the symptoms of a way too hot finance market. And the newest kids in finance were the crypto exchanges and some crypto projects – they were definitely the ones who overleveraged completely,” Mr Gronager said.
“And some of them did it in an illegal way. And that was basically what we saw there. We also saw established venture capital firms over-leveraging their investments and getting in big trouble, but most of them actually survived it.”
For the broader finance industry, Mr Gronager believes there is a “solid and pretty good framework” that tackles money laundering and terrorist financing.
Applied to the cryptocurrency sector, the $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and the US Department of Justice last November is an indication that authorities have taken a stance and this is being taken very seriously.
“We had all the big banks … each getting billion-dollar fines; now you're seeing the same in the crypto space and that raises the bar, ensures compliance will be high priority, and a good understanding and responsibility of the industry,” Mr Gronager said.
Among the most notable fines imposed on financial institutions for compliance failures are JP Morgan Chase's $2.6 billion settlement in the aftermath of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme in 2014 and Credit Suisse's $5.28 billion payment in 2017 for misconduct on sales of residential mortgage-backed securities.
“There's now a price on not doing compliance or making mistakes.”
Regulations are key to establishing trust in the cryptocurrency industry, and governments should play an active role in ensuring this, said Mr Gronager, who counts the UAE as among “the top three to five in terms of the global landscape” of finance and cryptocurrency, as well.
He said the Emirates has had “a good way of working with the [crypto] industry, ensuring that there's adequate regulation”, at par with other global financial centres such as New York, London and Singapore.
The total value of cryptocurrency transactions in the UAE from the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024 hit $39.2 billion, data provided by Chainalysis to The National shows.
Institutional investors, those who invest more than $1 million, made up the biggest chunk of UAE transactions with 59 per cent, while professional investors ($10,000 to $1 million) were at 39 per cent and retail investors (up to $10,000) were at 2 per cent, the data showed.
“The UAE, in general, is very advanced and sophisticated in [cryptocurrency] use cases and is probably one of the few markets where decentralised finance is more relevant than centralised exchanges, demonstrating that the level of sophistication is pretty high,” Mr Gronager said.
The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rest
(Because Music)
HWJN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Yasir%20Alyasiri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Baraa%20Alem%2C%20Nour%20Alkhadra%2C%20Alanoud%20Saud%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
Last-16
France 4
Griezmann (13' pen), Pavard (57'), Mbappe (64', 68')
Argentina 3
Di Maria (41'), Mercado (48'), Aguero (90 3')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
Trolls World Tour
Directed by: Walt Dohrn, David Smith
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake
Rating: 4 stars
RACE SCHEDULE
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday, September 29
First practice: 7am - 8.30am
Second practice: 11am - 12.30pm
Saturday, September 30
Qualifying: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday, October 1
Race: 11am - 1pm
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20UAE%20men%E2%80%99s%20cricketer%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWhen%20he%20debuted%20against%20Bangladesh%20aged%2016%20years%20and%20314%20days%2C%20he%20became%20the%20youngest%20ever%20to%20play%20for%20the%20men%E2%80%99s%20senior%20team.%20He%20broke%20the%20record%20set%20by%20his%20World%20Cup%20squad-mate%2C%20Alishan%20Sharafu%2C%20of%2017%20years%20and%2044%20days.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20wicket-taker%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20taking%20the%20wicket%20of%20Bangladesh%E2%80%99s%20Litton%20Das%20on%20debut%20in%20Dubai%2C%20Aayan%20became%20the%20youngest%20male%20cricketer%20to%20take%20a%20wicket%20against%20a%20Full%20Member%20nation%20in%20a%20T20%20international.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20in%20T20%20World%20Cup%20history%3F%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAayan%20does%20not%20turn%2017%20until%20November%2015%20%E2%80%93%20which%20is%20two%20days%20after%20the%20T20%20World%20Cup%20final%20at%20the%20MCG.%20If%20he%20does%20play%20in%20the%20competition%2C%20he%20will%20be%20its%20youngest%20ever%20player.%20Pakistan%E2%80%99s%20Mohammed%20Amir%2C%20who%20was%2017%20years%20and%2055%20days%20when%20he%20played%20in%202009%2C%20currently%20holds%20the%20record.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
