Dubai crypto licence register
Every VASP licensed by VARA · source: VARA Public Register · checked daily · last check 15 July 2026
Complete register · 52 licensed VASPs · source: VARA
About
VARA — the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority — is the sole crypto regulator for Dubai's mainland and free zones (except the DIFC). Every entry above is a full VASP licence from VARA's public register, covering only the activities listed on it. Companies with an In-Principle Approval are not allowed to operate or serve clients until fully licensed.
How do I check if a crypto company is licensed in Dubai?
Search its name above. A licensed company shows its VARA licence reference, activities and issue date. If it isn't listed, it doesn't hold a VARA licence.
What do the activity words mean?
Exchange — running a trading venue. Brokerage — buying and selling for clients. Custody — holding client assets. Investment management — managing client portfolios. Advice — advising on virtual assets. Lending — lending and borrowing services. Token issuance — Category 1 VA issuance. The exact wording is in each company's full record.
Is a VARA licence valid in Europe?
No — it covers Dubai only. Serving EU clients needs a separate MiCA authorisation: see our EU registers. Many groups hold both (Bitpanda, BitGo, OKX, Gate and Crypto.com all appear in both registers).
How current is this data?
We re-check VARA's public register every day, so new licences and in-principle approvals appear as soon as VARA publishes them.
How Dubai's virtual-asset regime works
VARA was created in 2022 as the world's first regulator dedicated solely to virtual assets. It supervises every virtual-asset activity across Dubai — mainland and all free zones — with one exception: the Dubai International Financial Centre, which has its own regulator, the DFSA. A VARA licence therefore does not authorise anything inside the DIFC, and a DFSA licence does not authorise anything outside it. Abu Dhabi is separate again, under ADGM's FSRA.
Licences are activity-specific. VARA issues seven categories — broker-dealer, exchange, custody, management and investment, advisory, lending and borrowing, and Category 1 VA issuance — and a firm may only conduct the ones written on its licence. Several carry explicit sub-permissions: exchange services can include virtual-asset derivatives trading, and custody can extend to custodial staking or collateral wallet services. Those conditions are part of the licence, not marketing, and appear in each record here.
In-principle approval is not permission to trade. An IPA confirms that VARA is satisfied with an applicant in principle and allows it to complete the remaining conditions — capital, systems, staffing, compliance infrastructure. Until the full licence is granted the firm may not onboard clients, hold assets or conduct any virtual-asset activity. Firms sometimes announce an IPA in language that sounds like a licence; the distinction matters and is the single most common misreading of this register.
Every licensed VASP also carries a CMA registration number, VARA's internal reference encoding which activities were granted. The register additionally records the principal place of business, because a VARA licence requires genuine presence in Dubai — a mailbox arrangement will not survive supervision.
Dubai is frequently paired with a European licence rather than chosen instead of one. A VARA licence covers Dubai only; serving EU clients requires separate MiCA authorisation. Bitpanda, BitGo, OKX, Gate and Crypto.com all appear in both this register and the EU register, which is the usual shape for a group operating in both markets.