Dubai crypto regulator suspends BitOasis crypto exchange license

July 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

BitOasis

BitOasis was the first crypto exchange to get an operational license in Dubai, which has now been suspended by the local regulator for not meeting key conditions in time.

Dubai’s cryptocurrency regulator has suspended the license of crypto exchange BitOasis for not meeting mandated conditions within the timeframes set out by the authority.

On July 10, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued two alerts saying its undertaken enforcement action against BitOasis and is reviewing the Dubai-based firm.

VARA said BitOasis’ conditional license, granted April 12, permitted it to operate provided the firm met “key conditions over 30-60 day timeframes” which the regulator said hadn’t been met.

VARA did not detail what conditions BitOasis failed to meet, but until it can fulfill the conditions the firm's “Licence for Institutional and Qualified Retail Investors remains ‘non-operational,’” according to the regulator.

BitOasis received the first of the city’s “minimum viable product operational licenses” from VARA allowing it to provide broker-dealer services to Dubai’s qualified institutional and retail investors according to a May blog post.

The license is the last of a multi-step process before a Full Market Product (FMP) license is issued. Currently, VARA has not issued an FMP license to any firm.

BitOasis will have to meet the conditions set out in its current license in order to apply for the FMP license, VARA explained.

VARA’s latest action comes after its April reprimand of Su Zhu and Kyle Davies — the co-founders of the collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

The pair landed on VARA’s radar for operating and promoting their new OPNX crypto exchange in Dubai without the required license.

For BitOasis, VARA said it would “continue to monitor the situation for regulatory compliance remediation.”

Cointelegraph contacted BitOasis and VARA for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

BitCulture: Fine art on Solana, AI music, podcast + book reviews

Twitter suspends memecoin-linked AI bot after Elon Musk’s ‘scam crypto’ claim

June 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Ban

"Explain This Bob," the popular AI-powered Twitter account also linked to a memecoin, was suspended shortly after Elon Musk alleged it was a "scam."

Twitter has suspended the account of the popular memecoin-linked artificial intelligence-powered bot “Explain This Bob” after Elon Musk alleged it was a “scam crypto account.”

Musk alleged the account was a scam in a tweet on June 18 in areply to the bot, the account was seemingly suspended soon after.

This sure looks like a scam crypto account. If so, it will be suspended.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2023

The Explain This Bob account reportedly amassed over 400,000 followers before its suspension. The bot was created by Prabhu Biswal from India and used OpenAI’s GPT-4 model to comprehend and provide responses to tweets by those who tagged the account.

The project was also linked to the ERC-20 memecoin Bob Token (BOB) that was launched in April 2023. The suspension sent the price of BOB down over 30% according to CoinGecko.

The suspension is a U-turn on Musk’s earlier impression of the bot, who tweeted “I love Bob” in response to one of its tweets on April 20, a tweet which also prominently features on the project’s website.

I love Bob
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023

Twitter has not taken action against the account for Bob Token, however. The project’s team humorously responded to the news of the suspension, sharing a meme of Musk monitoring a distraught “Bob” in a prison.

#FREEBOB pic.twitter.com/SOUm7opQ7o
— Bob (@BobEthToken) June 18, 2023

Observers believe Musk is of the view that Explain This Bob is being used as a marketing tactic to prop up BOB’s price.

Since the suspension, the hashtag “FREEBOB” has circulated on Crypto Twitter. Most observers take the view that BOB isn’t a scam coin and the suspension is unwarranted as the launch of the token was “fair” in addition to BOB being “fully decentralized” with a 0% tax mechanism.

Another claimed the team didn’t provide themselves with any tokens or airdrops prior to the Bob Token launch in April.

So does @elonmusk plan to provide any proof of $BOB being a scam or are we just expected to take his word for it?

Intrigued to understand what constitutes a scam crypto account @elonmusk?

Renounced contract
0 tax
0 team tokens
Fully decentralised
Fair launched

Can you explain… pic.twitter.com/0U2nuUsyqB
— Crypto Boss (CB) (@Cryptoboss2000) June 18, 2023

Cointelegraph contacted Biswal and Twitter for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Magazine: AI Eye: Make 500% from ChatGPT stock tips? Bard leans left, $100M AI memecoin