The UAE is Now The United States! OPNX Slammed with a $2.7 Million Fine For breaking Marketing Rules

• UAE regulatory authorities in Dubai fined an exchange owned by a popular founder a whopping $2.7 million. Apparently, the regulatory authorities said OPNX broke several marketing and advertising laws. 
• The owners of this exchange didn’t escape the fines. About three of them received a $54,000 fine. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is known as one of the countries with a relaxed crypto regulatory framework. But they are becoming more active in regulation after landing a $2.7 million fine on crypto exchange for flaunting crypto regulations. 

UAE Regulatory Authority Fines Crypto Exchange 

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• Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, commonly known as Vara, fined a crypto exchange called OPNX for breaking the rules. Apparently, the crypto exchange receiving this fine has connections to a failed crypto firm called Three Arrows Capital. Kyle Davies and Su Zhu once led the failed hedge firm Three Arrows Capital. 
• However, since the hedging fund went bankrupt, the two individuals shifted their focus to developing a new crypto exchange. Apparently, due to the backlash they faced in the United States, they decided to move to the UAE. However, things haven’t been going well for them after receiving a $2.7 Million fine. 
• Moreover, the operation of the OPNX is a failure. Maybe, people are moving away from associating with the failed hedge fund founders. During the debut of their newly founded crypto exchange, they managed to get about $2 in their trading volume. Making $2 in 24 hours of launching a crypto exchange is extremely poor. 
• In fact, this incident made many other crypto heavyweights mock the venture. Notably, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO of Maelstromfund, posted on Twitter (now X) mocking the failing exchange. 

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$2.7mm fine for $2 of trading volume. They are def in the VC game, -ve margins, “we’ll make it up on volume” well played sers. 😭😭😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/lrEdCZCvSA

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) August 16, 2023

More Details About the Fine in United Arab Emirates 

• Apparently, before OPNX received this fine, they got several warnings regarding their operations in the country. However, they seem to ignore such warnings, leading to a fine of 10M United Arab Emirates dirhams (equivalent to $2.7 m). 
• Furthermore, the crypto exchange itself wasn’t the only entity that received a fine. Even the founders, including Davies, Zhu, and the Lambs, received their own fines from the UAE regulatory authority. Conversely, most of the penalties are due to breaking several advertising and marketing rules. Nevertheless, the founders got a $54,000 fine from the UAE regulators. 
• With the fine of $2.7 million, this is an addition to the wide range of issues OPNX faces. It doesn’t have public support, and receiving this type of fine worsens things. Moreover, the Dubai regulatory authorities say they will impose more penalties if OPNX fails to pay on time. 

Conclusion 

The United Arab Emirates is still one of the countries with some of the best regulatory rules. However, they are always keen on hitting out any crypto firm that is found breaking the law. OPNX was among the law offenders, and they received a $2.7 million fine. 

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Featured image from Pixabay