UK regulated crypto exchange, GCEX, has hired a regional director to lead its move into the Mena market.
Ayman Kobti joins the FCA-regulated crypto firm from management consulting firm, Mena Solutions, where he provided portfolio optimisation services for institutional clients in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Prior to that, Kobti spent seven years at brokerage firm CFI Financial, serving as chief administrative officer for its Lebanon office.
“Crypto is something relatively new to the Mena region,” said Kobti adding that he is looking forward to enlightening professionals and institutions on “what blockchain and crypto means in practice and how the market has matured”.
GCEX will join a number of local and international crypto firms looking to offer trading and custody services to Mena-based investors. In July, crypto asset exchange, Binance, announced an expansion in the region while rival firm, Huobi, made its own move to the GCC in December 2019. Meanwhile a number of local firms have launched their own crypto exchanges.
The regulatory treatment of crypto assets is also developing. In mid-October the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority published a draft of its Regulations for Issuing and Offering Crypto Assets.
The proposals are designed to govern many of the services around digital asset trading such as issuance and promotion as well licensing and conduct of business rules for custodians, exchanges and fundraising platforms.
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