Three Arrows Capital is Not Registered in Dubai, Confirms Regulator

A spokesperson from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has confirmed that the embattled VC firm Three Arrows Capital (3AC) was not registered in the region.

• “We can confirm that Three Arrows Capital is not a DFSA authorized firm and is not regulated by the DFSA,” said a DFSA spokesperson in an email to CoinDesk.

• This information contradicts claims from 3AC co-founder Su Zhu in April, stating that the firm would be relocating to Dubai. He said that the firm would launch a $5 billion fund in the city, which has a more welcoming regulatory environment than Singapore.
• Dubai has been opening itself to the crypto industry bit by bit, having announced its Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority this March. Numerous developments are now coming out of the city, including a local school that accepts tuition payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• In Singapore, firms like 3AC are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). To conduct services in the Dubai International Financial Centre, they must be overseen by the DFSA, as the regulator’s website confirms.
• The MAS’s Chief Fintech Officer stated this month that it would be “brutal and unrelentingly hard” on bad actors in the crypto space.
• 3AC saw multiple leveraged positions liquidated this month amid the crypto market collapse. Contagion from its collapse is now spreading to other firms, and Zhu has stated that 3AC may seek asset sale and bailout options in the aftermath.
• Even outside of the DIFC, 3AC appears to have registered nowhere in the city. Dubai’s National Economic Register shows no companies matching the VC firm’s description.
• Nevertheless, Zhu’s Twitter location indicates that he is currently in Dubai.