Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority VARA opens the door to regulated crypto staking services with its  revised Custody Services Rulebook, allowing staking by virtual asset custody Service providers.  As per the revised rule book , virtual asset service providers who carry out custody services can offer staking services as well withouth obtaining a separate licence for VA Management and Investment Services. Additional licensing and supervision fees will be payable in connection with the provision of this additional service. As per the amendments,   VASPs Licensed by VARA to carry out Custody Services may only provide Staking from Custody Services, if explicitly authorised to do so by VARA, and such authorisation is expressly stipulated in their Licence. There will be incremental fees for custody services. VASPs who are authorized to offer staking services, will have to comply to all the rules related to custody services while they are offering their staking...

  Further to Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority’s (VARA) previous notices dated 12 April 2023 and 27 April 2023 regarding the conduct of Open Technology Markets Ltd. known as OPNX and opnx.com, VARA has issued the following fines against OPNX including a $2,722,548 equivalent to AED 10,000,000 against OPNX for a Market Offence under Regulation VIII.A.3 of the Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations 2023 (Regulations) As per VARA, this fine was issued on 2 May 2023 and remains unpaid at the time of publication of this notice.  The VARA notice includes   $54,000 equivalent to  AED 200,000 against each of the following 4 persons: OPNX founders Kyle Davies, Su Zhu and Mark Lamb and OPNX CEO Leslie Lamb. The fines are for violations of Administrative Order No. 01/22 Relating to Regulation of Marketing, Advertising and Promotions Related to Virtual Assets,  The fines were issued on 2 May 2023 and have been fully paid by the individuals in questio...

  The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] has announced a schedule of fees covering the issuance of no-objection certificates to proprietary traders, amendments or withdrawal of licence applications, and the submission of whitepapers for VARA review. All proprietary traders will require a no-objection certificate to carry out the activity of proprietary trading in or from the Emirate of Dubai. VARA shall confirm its evaluation of a firm’s activity through the firm’s commercial licensor and firms assessed as carrying out the activity of proprietary trading will be required to pay an annual NOC fee of AED 1,000. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no additional fee payable in relation to the requirement for mandatory registration applicable to large proprietary traders (under Regulation IV.A.7). Licensed firms wishing to amend details of their VARA licence will be charged a licence update fee of AED 500 per request. Licensed firms seeking to withdraw from Dubai and...

  It s no surprise that global crypto exchanges are flocking to the UAE, first it was Binance, then Kraken which left, then crypto.com, coinbase, and now the second biggest global exchange OKX. OKX announced unilaterally that it had received a minimal viable Preparatory license from Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority (VARA). In 2022 OKX had received its provisional license and opened offices at the Dubai World Trade Centre.  In the announcement they stressed that the UAE is a key strategic growth and business hub for OKX global with the company planning ot hire 30 staff locals and senior management. OKX also added that it plans to extend its nine-figure brand partnerships to the UAE with customer and fan-focused activations and activities. As per the announcement, once licensed to be operational, OKX Middle East will be able to extend its approved suite of duly regulated virtual assets activities and will provide spot, derivatives, and fiat services, including ...

  The UAE virtual asset regulatory authority has published its new virtual asset  rulebook for, the virtual assets transfer,  and settlement service.   This comes after the Central Bank of UAE published its guidelines for AML CFT compliance for financial institutions in relations to VASPs in the UAE. As published in the rulebook, VASPs providing VA Transfer and Settlement Services must comply with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements issued by the Central Bank of UAE which apply to the VASP, which pertain to the end-to-end enablement of payments, remittances and/or other related services as may be amended from time to time. As per the transfer and settlement service rulebook document, VASPs providing VA Transfer and Settlement Services must ensure that they comply with all legal and regulatory requirements for such services, inside and outside of the UAE. VASPs must ensure at all times that any transmission or transfer, and/or settlement being unde...

  UAE - Hex Trust is the first entity to have received an MVP Operational license from VARA. This is the third licensing stage within the VARA framework, before the FMP Operational license. This means that Hex Trust can now operate under VARA supervision and monitoring. (for more information, please see review www.vara.ae) Mohamed Reda El Sheikh, Head of Compliance MENA &MLRO at Hex Trust, a certified Blockchain Cryptocurrency Auditor, announced this in a LinkedIn post. In the post, El Sheikh stated, "The day has finally arrived. Hex Trust is the first entity to be granted the MVP operational license, and I am the first compliance officer "MLRO" to operate under the first specialized cryptocurrency regulator in the world "VARA". Getting this done is a team effort, and without the support of my superstar colleagues at Hex Trust, I would not have been able to accomplish it. LaraontheBlock spoke with El Sheikh to learn more. El Sheikh explained, "We have ...