Dubai Restricts Privacy Coins on Regulated Crypto Platforms

[cryptoenthusiast]

Dubai has moved to restrict privacy-focused cryptocurrencies from regulated financial channels without criminalizing their ownership. In January 2026, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) prohibited licensed firms in the Dubai International Financial Centre from trading, marketing, or packaging privacy coins such as Monero and Zcash into investment products.

The rule applies only to DFSA-authorized entities and does not make it illegal for individuals to hold privacy coins in personal wallets. Instead, it limits access through compliant, institution-facing platforms.

Regulators argue that privacy-by-default features conflict with anti-money laundering and sanctions frameworks that require transaction visibility, making certain tokens incompatible with regulated intermediaries operating within global compliance standards.

[johnblockbuster]

lol dubai banning privacy coins from regulated channels but not from personal wallets… sneaky way to control access without full ban