Fasset Crypto Exchange launches in GCC

Fasset, provider of comprehensive ecosystem dedicated to merging digital asset innovations with the real economy, which has already raised 4.7 million USD, will be launching its second flagship product, the Fasset Exchange (FEX). https://fasset.exchange/ 

Immediately available to both retail and institutional investors within the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the FEX will offer 0% trading fees and sign-up rewards for new users, bringing newfound accessibility to the digital asset space and infrastructure investment market in the Middle East. Signups for the FEX’s private beta are available now, with the public launch scheduled for later this year and expansion to the rest of the MENASA region over the next two years. 

The FEX will serve to provide near-instant access and liquidity for both real asset-backed tokens—such as gold-backed tokens or tokenised sustainable infrastructure projects—and top cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, and USDT. FEX is designed with both retail and institutional investors in mind, offering low-risk, highly-resilient, yielding, and liquid real assets to those seeking to diversify their digital asset portfolios. The exchange significantly reduces transaction times for real assets—as trades on the platform will take seconds, as opposed to the weeks needed for unlisted infrastructure—and transparency, in the form of real time access to world-class research and analysis on tradable assets for premium subscription users.

 In addition to the efficiency, transparency, and highly competitive fee structures employed by the exchange—which offers 0% trading, compared to a market average of 4-5% on other regional exchanges—investors can look forward to a free $5 contribution to their account from the Fasset team as they begin their trading journey.

 Commenting, Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Fasset Chief Executive Officer and former Technology Advisor to the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, said: “While the last decade has seen a rise in cryptocurrency usage, persisting complexities—from trading to payments systems—hinder true mass adoption. In addition, the volatility and high-risk nature of digital assets makes the asset class unapproachable for the majority of investors as investors are unable to gauge their value. To date, accessing digital assets—whether cryptocurrencies or real asset-backed tokens—in the MENASA region has been an onerous process. The industry lacks competition and, as a result, local exchanges have maintained an opaque, and often expensive, fee structure and operating model—resulting in high barriers to entry and limited choices for investors. FEX brings to the GCC the accessibility, variety, and ease of use which increasingly characterises digital asset markets elsewhere in the world. It is our belief that every investor should have a healthy, risk-assessed allocation in digital assets. As such, we look forward to offering investors and asset owners across MENASA convenience and true diversification like they’ve never seen before.” 

For those users who sign up ahead of the private beta launch, they will get access to the platform in order of their queue number in the waitlist—with the first 30,000 users gaining early access. During private beta testing, users will gain full access to the FEX platform and marketplace. Using targeted customer feedback and user behaviour analysis, the Fasset team will use the beta testing phase to optimize the FEX website, mobile support, and UX and UI to enhance usability and ensure customer satisfaction. 

“After the 2017 ICO boom, tokenisation and security token offerings were supposed to legitimise the crypto industry—carrying the promise of bringing the liquidity of the ICO era to real assets,” continued Hossain. “However, while stablecoins and security tokens served to ignite conversations within the cryptocurrency sector, neither have succeeded in bringing long-term substantive value to the marketplace. The launch of FEX brings a greater array of stable, high-yielding asset-backed tokens to the field, creating a robust foundation for innovative products in the future. With concerted efforts from leaders in the region, including regulators in jurisdictions such as Bahrain and the UAE, to support fintech innovation, we believe that investors in the Gulf have great appetite to explore the cryptocurrency sector further and to foster its long-term and sustainable growth.” 

Founded in early 2019 by a group of international technologists, Fasset aims to bring the physical, financial, and digital realms together to offer a new asset class to investors—“Hard Asset Tokens,” which are digital representations of infrastructure assets, such as solar farms or fiber optic networks. Launched earlier this year, Fasset’s first flagship product—the Fasset Enterprise Platform (FEP)—uses blockchain technology to fractionalise large, previously illiquid assets, offering fractional ownership of these digital "pieces". As a result, these previously unavailable and unlisted assets become highly liquid, more accessible, and easily tradable. 

Fasset’s leadership team draws on backgrounds in banking, ethical finance, governmental investing, and sustainable infrastructure, and from institutions including the World Bank, United Nations, Standard Chartered Bank, and the UAE Ministry of Cabinet Affairs. The company has already amassed more than US$4.7 million raised from strategic backers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Singapore.

As per a comment made to UNLOCK by Aziz Zainuddin, Chief Product Officer at Fasset, " Fasset exchange is regulated  in Bahrain under the Central Bank of Bahrain sanbox license." This is a temporary license that allows the Central Bank to regulate the project and those apporved will graduate.