PANews reported on January 12th that, according to CoinDesk, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has banned the trading, promotion, and derivatives activities of privacy coins in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) starting January 12th, citing their inability to meet anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance requirements. The new regulations also redefine stablecoins, recognizing only "fiat-backed crypto tokens" backed by fiat currency and high-quality assets; algorithmic stablecoins such as Ethena are not considered stablecoins. Furthermore, the DFSA has transferred the responsibility for token suitability assessments to licensed institutions, shifting its regulatory focus to compliance enforcement.