Recently, during the World Police Summit, the Dubai police revealed plans for a new approach to fighting crime. With new technologies, the way criminals conduct their activities is changing and evolving. Law enforcement officers have concluded that they need to adopt these technologies as well, in order to use them to their advantage in combating a new generation of crime, particularly activities involving the criminal use of cryptocurrency.
Dubai’s New Law to Assist Local Police
Earlier this month, on March 9th, the Dubai government announced a new law regarding virtual assets. The law came about due to the increased use of digital assets in the country, as well as concerns about these assets being used for criminal activities, such as money laundering. The government pointed out that there were already numerous cases of money laundering incidents in many different countries, and Dubai is ready to become a leader in adopting the same kind of tech against criminals.
March 9th also brought a statement from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, who said that the government had approved a virtual assets law and established the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. He noted that these developments will establish the UAE’s position in the sector and that the Authority will work with a number of different entities to make sure that security and transparency remain robust.
The new law will apply to any type of transaction involving digital assets, including things like Bitcoinpayments, altcoin transactions, zero-fee transactions, and more. In addition to blockchain technology, Dubai police will also implement Artificial Intelligence (AI). He added that the combination of blockchain and AI is expected to bring significant advancements when it comes to containing criminal threats.
Emerging Technologies Require a Change in Approaching Crime-Fighting
With digital assets being significantly different from other types of assets, the country’s government decided that its existing regulatory bodies are not equipped to deal with matters involving cryptocurrencies. This is why they formed a Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) — an entity that will function as an autonomous regulatory body for the emerging sector.
Furthermore, a cybercrime unit will start monitoring malicious actions at all times, including suspicious digital cryptocurrency trades, non-fungible token (NFT) sales, and any other activities involving blockchain products.
Dubai’s move to ensure that its police department remains capable of fighting cutting-edge criminal activities might serve as an example for other countries, although it is worth noting that the majority of the world’s nations are still struggling with regulating crypto.
