Dubai's VARA Reprimands Three Arrows Capital Founders' OPNX Exchange

Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the founders of defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Captial, recently teamed with the founders of CoinFLEX to create Open Exchange or OPNX. They branded the exchange to be the first of its kind that allowed users to trade claims of bankrupt crypto companies like FTX. According to the latest development, Dubai authorities have reprimanded Zhu and Davies for operating and promoting the aforementioned exchange without the requisite regulatory license.


The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] recently handed a written reprimand to the former Three Arrows Capital and the other two co-founders and chief executive of OPNX. VARA reportedly said that it will continue investigating and delving into OPNX’s activity “to assess further corrective measures that may be required.”

It’s known that the UAE and other regions like Hong Kong are looking to tap into the crypto sector and emerge as foundation cities. Even so, regulations and compliance requirements have not taken a back seat. Dubai, for instance, released a ten-part rulebook outlining various principles, and digital asset rules pertaining to licensing, marketing, issuance of assets, and AML obligations.

The authority specifically asserted that only entities that are licensed by the VARA can describe themselves as virtual asset businesses. The latest OPNX-related development infers that regulators are not cutting any slack for crypto companies.

Zhu and Davies were based in Singapore beforehand. However, they established Dubai as one of their main bases since the Three Arrows Capital Saga unfurled last year. They’ve been tussling with liquidators lately, in an attempt to recover funds for creditors. Mark Lamb, Sudhu Arumugam, and Leslie Lamb have parallelly been reprimanded by VARA.

Is OPNX at fault?

Leslie Lamb has claimed that the exchange has not done any marketing targeting Dubai or the wider UAE. Lamb told Bloomberg told that OPNX is cooperating with VARA’s investigation and doesn’t believe it violated any rules. She asserted,

“At no point in time have UAE customers been able to open an account on OPNX.”

Zhu, on the other hand, clarified,

“While Kyle and I helped contribute the initial ideas for OPNX, Leslie is very much the CEO, and we aren’t involved in the day-to-day.”

In its statement, the VARA said that it issued a cease and desist order to the company and its founders on Feb. 27. That was followed by a second notice on March 10. Nevertheless, OPNX launched on April 4. After a few days, the regulator issued an “Investor and Marketplace Alert” pertaining to OPNX. The regulator claimed,

“Through social media platforms, OPNX had been engaged in marketing the exchange without establishing warranted restrictions for residents of Dubai/UAE.”

        Comments

        Post a Comment

        Popular posts from this blog

        Ethereum (ETH) Rallies On BlackRock ETF Filing: Next Stop $2500?

        Image
        After BlackRock filed for an Ethereum ETF spot, ETH jumped above $2,100. Ethereum and Tron’s founders deposited large sums of ETH onto exchanges. ETH was overbought but an increase in buying pressure could drag it up to $2,500. After enduring a series of bashings from the crypto community, Ethereum (ETH) finally broke out and jumped above the $ 2,000 psychological resistance. The price rise was connected to the disclosure that leading investment firm BlackRock had filed for an ether ETF. The development resulted in an increased demand for ETH, thereby positively impacting the price action. At press time, ETH changed hands at $2,121, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Following the surge, many market players are now calling for ETH to reach $2,500 and beat down the dominance of bitcoin (BTC). Big Players Move ETH Another interesting development that occurred after the price increase was revealed by the smart money tracking platform Lookonchain....
        Read more

        Trader Says Shiba Inu Rival Could Explode by 160% Before ‘Real’ Rally Starts, Updates Outlook on Bitcoin

        Image
        A widely followed analyst is optimistic about the largest memecoin by market cap as the crypto markets explode. Pseudonymous crypto trader Kaleo tells his 601,800 followers on the social media platform X that the “real” Dogecoin (DOGE) rally is likely to kick off late next year. According to Kaleo, Dogecoin could record rallies of up to 162% from the current level. “Here’s my playbook for DOGE: Sometime in the next week or two, Dogecoin finally starts to move. When DOGE starts moving higher, it usually moves pretty fast. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a daily from here to somewhere in the $0.90 – $0.10 range, chop there for a bit, then another daily to approximately $0.15. It’ll be a fast move… maybe churn a bit higher from there, but as much as I’d love for it to go to $1+, I honestly don’t see it getting too much past $0.20 on this rally.” Source: Kaleo/X From Kaleo’s charts outlining the possible price a...
        Read more

        Shiba Memu: $3M in presale screams buy now for this AI-powered meme

        Shiba Memu brings AI to the crypto meme world. The project has so far raised more than $3 million from investors. SHMU’s price during the presale could be a huge bargain – priced at $0.028450 per token today.  As the cryptocurrency market continues to play out the choppiness expected before the next bull cycle, analysts say this could be an ideal time to play out opportunities in the altcoin market. Investors are likely to consider several tokens offering an excellent buy-low scenario, and one place to look for the #1 contender for crypto gem of the year is the presale market. Shiba Memu (SHMU) is among a few cryptocurrency projects that have attracted massive attention and interest from investors. The $3 million presale raise for this token so far suggests savvy investors know a thing or two about its potential.  Here’s what you might want to know about Shiba Memu. What is Shiba Memu? $SHMU isn’t just another crypto meme...
        Read more