The Ras Al Khaimah emirate will launch a special economic zone for companies involved in digital and virtual assets. The RAK Digital Assets Oasis will have a regulatory framework different from UAE laws and preferential taxation for cryptocurrency companies.
The government of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, announced plans to create the RAK Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO), a special free economic zone for crypto companies. This was reported by the local media.
The free zone will provide “100% business ownership” for various firms whose activities are related to:
- providing digital and virtual asset services;
- developing Metaverse technologies;
- introducing blockchain into business processes;
- providing tools for storing digital assets;
- creating NFT projects;
- operating decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO);
- developing decentralized applications (dApps);
- any other Web 3.0 activity.
According to Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid bin Abdullah Al Qasimi, Chairman of the RAK ICC and RAK Digital Assets Oasis, the initiative is intended to create “the free zone of the future for companies of the future.” RAK DAO will be the world’s first free economic zone created exclusively for cryptocurrency companies. The project aims to stimulate and promote innovations and will be part of the UAE’s global plan to establish a crypto hub.
According to Dr. Sameer Al Ansari, CEO of RAK ICC and RAK Digital Assets Oasis, the zone will provide a “unique offering” for global entrepreneurs based on the UAE’s “progressive policies.” For example, RAK DAO will have preferential taxation for crypto companies, designed to help attract the “brightest Web3 minds with their most disruptive ideas” to the region. The free zone will also feature progressive digital asset legislation.
RAK DAO will start accepting applications from crypto companies in Q2 2023.
Recall that the UAE authorities are actively developing the digital economy sector. Thus, Dubai is gradually turning into a blockchain hub due to the favorable conditions for crypto businesses, while the Web3 sector in the UAE has about 1,500 active companies.
