Ripple (XRP) Has Secured Approval to Provide Regulated Crypto Payments and Services in Dubai's DIFC

Ripple has secured approval in the United Arab Emirates to provide regulated crypto payments and services in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC)

The price of XRP has risen by 4.6% in the last 24 hours, in stark contrast to Bitcoin (BTC), which has seen a 0.7% price decrease in the same time period.

As of 08:14 (GMT+8), the price of XRP is $2.57, while the price of BTC is $25,705.

Cryptocurrencies have been a hot topic in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently, with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) granting a full license to blockchain-powered payments provider Ripple to provide crypto services in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC).

This makes Ripple the first firm to receive a license from the DFSA and also marks a significant milestone for the crypto industry, which has been operating in a largely gray area in most jurisdictions.

Announcing the news, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said that the crypto industry is “entering an unprecedented period of growth”, driven by improving regulatory clarity and increasing institutional adoption.

“We are proud to be recognized by the DIFC for our role in advancing this new era of Web3 and tokenized finance,” said Garlinghouse.

He added that Ripple has been seeing growing demand in the Middle East from both crypto industry firms and traditional financial institutions to increase the efficiency of cross-border payments.

High fees, long settlement times and poor transparency are some of the key issues affecting cross-border payments in the region, but Garlinghouse believes that blockchain technology can be used to solve these problems.

“Through blockchain-powered solutions, we can unlock new levels of financial inclusion and connect people and businesses in a way that wasn’t possible before,” said Garlinghouse.

In addition to Ripple’s regulatory approval in the UAE, another factor that could be driving the XRP price today is a report by journalist Eleanor Terrett, who cites “well-placed sources” as saying that the legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could be ending soon.

The SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple is the agency’s most high-profile crypto industry case, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a resolution soon especially since the SEC has recently also dismissed cases against several major players in the crypto industry, including Coinbase (NASDAQ:), Uniswap and Kraken.

Another recent bullish development for XRP is major asset management firm Franklin Templeton filing an application to launch an XRP ETF. Franklin Templeton, which has over $1.3 trillion in assets under management, is the ninth firm to apply for an XRP ETF.

In addition, XRP Ledger developers are implementing features to make the platform more suitable for institutional investors. According to a roadmap shared by Ripple, we can expect to see features such as decentralized identity and credentials, a multipurpose token standard, an XRP Ledger lending protocol, improved programmability and much more.