The United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to emerge as one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency-friendly jurisdictions as the government of Dubai has a new initiative to support local crypto development and regulation.

The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), a government-owned event and exhibition venue in Dubai, will become a comprehensive zone and regulator of cryptocurrencies, products, operators and exchanges, DWTC officially announced Monday.

As part of the initiative, the DWTC will design a comprehensive ecosystem for this progressive sector within Dubai and collaborate with the private sector to set up an “attractive environment for the sector.” The project also aims to enforce rigorous standards for investor protection, Anti-Money Laundering measures and combating the financing of terrorism, the DWTC stated.

“The World Trade Center will deliver and oversee a new world-class regulatory framework of Virtual Asset legislative and enforcement policies,” the statement reads.

Cointelegraph reached out to the DWTC and will update the story pending new information.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was among the first people in the crypto community to celebrate the new announcement from the DWTC. Zhao has apparently been growing interested in the crypto ecosystem in the UAE as he reportedly bought his first home in Dubai in October.

Related: UAE regulators approve crypto trading in Dubai free zone

The initiative comes in line with Dubai’s growing efforts to support the crypto development as both Dubai and the UAE have been working for the local economy to benefit from blockchain technology as well as nonfungible tokens and cryptocurrencies.

In January, the Dubai Financial Services Authority was planning to set up a crypto regulatory framework as part of its 2021 business plan. The authority has issued a series of regulatory approvals for the crypto industry so far, while Dubai became a spot for several free economic zones for crypto.