Crypto firms pivot to Dubai as Singapore tightens rules: Dubai and Hong Kong are emerging as key landing spots for crypto exchanges facing a clampdown in Singapore, after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) ordered unlicensed offshore-facing platforms to shut by 30 June, the Financial Times reports. The move has pushed major players like Bitget and Bybit to consider shifting staff and operations to more crypto-friendly jurisdictions.

MAS’ rationale: Platforms that only serve non-residents are harder to supervise and pose higher anti-money laundering risks. The bar for licensing such exchanges remains deliberately high, according to MAS, which said it would generally avoid granting them.

Dubai’s property market is also back in the international spotlight, after haus & haus Sales Director Clementine Munro told Bloomberg (watch, runtime: 03:19) that the city is a safe haven amid regional tensions. “When there is geopolitical instability in the region, it only makes Dubai look safer,” Munro said, noting a surge in short-term rental demand from Iranians after recent unrest. Munro’s observation echoed in earlier Bloomberg coverage, which highlighted how business activity, markets, and investor sentiment quickly rebounded despite the Iran-Israel flare-up.

The emirate is also a relative bargain: “It’s almost 4x cheaper to live in Dubai than it is in London,” she added, citing an average price of USD 418 per sq ft, versus USD 1.4k in London and nearly USD 1.7k in New York. The UAE is increasingly attracting high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), particularly British m’naires, amid a record outflow from the UK driven by changes to the non-domicile regime. A net 9.8k HNWIs are expected to move into the UAE in 2025 — the largest inflow globally.

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