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...

  Komainu, a regulated digital asset custody provider created by Japanese investment bank Nomura, digital asset manager CoinShares and digital asset security company Ledger. has been granted a full virtual assets service provider license by Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority in UAE. The license was issued on August 18 th 2023. Prior to that Komainu had received in July 2022 the MVP license from VARA. Komainu will be able to serve qualified retail and institutional clients both as a crypto asset custodian and offer custodial staking services.  "We see tremendous opportunities to scale our business here amid a significant boom in assets driven by fund formation and exchange launches," said Sebastian Widmann, Komainu's Head of Strategy. "Dubai has a vibrant digital asset ecosystem and impressive talent pool, and we are proud to contribute to the growth of this innovative financial hub. Our presence and desirable regulatory status in the region marks anothe...

Virtual asset trading and cusotial service platform M2 has been granted a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). M2 is approved to operate a multilateral trading facility and offer custody services to UAE residents. M2 will be able to offer institutional and retail clients in the UAE the ability to buy, sell and custodies virtual assets. The platform has been developed over the past year with a long-term vision to establish the highest levels of trust, security, and integrity in the emerging virtual asset class. Subject to regulatory approval, the M2 platform is scheduled to launch later this year, offering UAE virtual asset investors the opportunity to purchase market-leading virtual assets (BTC and ETH), and benefit from institutional grade trading features in addition to having a secure on and off-ramp for fiat payments. Stefan Kimmel, M2 CEO, said, “The M2 team is delighted to ...

  Liminal, a provider of wallet infrastructure and custody solutions, with a presence in the UAE has launched its compliance solutions suite, with Notabene’s Travel Rule solution. According to recent news pieces, Liminal’s compliance suite presents features to aid clients with their regulatory obligations, including integration to enable communication between virtual asset service providers, providing an interface to fulfil regulatory obligations, supplying compliance solutions to prioritise data protection, allowing customisation to cater to compliance, and real-time monitoring and alerts to address compliance issues. Rahil Shaikh, AVP of product and blockchain, Liminal, stated, “We are looking forward to introducing our compliance solutions suite, strengthened through our collaboration with Notabene. At Liminal, our objective is to drive innovation within the digital asset industry, and this partnership aims to reinforce our commitment to providing regulatory-compliant soluti...

  Universal Digital AEDU and Canadian Aquanow have received MVP ( Minimum Viable Product) provisional license approvals for several virtual asset licenses from Dubai’s Virtual asset regulatory authority ( VARA ). Universal Digital (AEDU) has applied for advisory license, broker dealer services, virtual asset custodial license, crypto exchange license, crypto lending and borrowing license, as well as management and investment service license. In addition Canadian headquartered, digital asset platform has also received MVP provisional approval for advisory license, broker dealer license, and management investment service license. Aquanow is a privately funded, infrastructure and liquidity provider that enables institutional and enterprise use-cases for digital assets. The company currently has 200 institutional clients, serving customers in 30 plus countries with 70 asset pairings. This is another representation of increased interest in the UAE as a center for virtual assets, blo...

    According to a recent news piece in Khaleej Times, Liminal, a crypto custodial wallet platform has applied for a license at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in an effort to offer regulated service in the region. Liminal which claims to have processed crypto transactions worth $5.6 billion on its platform, with over $550 million worth of assets under protection, believes that people will use digital assets either as part of investment or a part of underlying fundamental technology. Mahin Gupta, Founder, Liminal stated to Khaleej Times, “Regulation will become uniform across the globe. UAE has taken a first mover advantage in the field of digital asset regulation, with much clarity. They have a clear idea about how they want to look at Metaverse, how they want to look at trading, how they want to look at custody and how they want to look at blockchain as a service and blockchain as a platform for other applications.” Liminal in the past month has advertised for the po...

  SwissBorg , a cryptocurrency wealth management app, has launched in the UAE, to offer a secure way to invest and earn interest on assets through Web 3.0. The award-winning app’s formula for mass adoption is two-fold, simplicity and automation, to help anyone regardless of age or skills, become a community member.  As per the press release, SwissBorg brings more than six years of expertise to the UAE, introducing a digital asset management app that takes the guesswork out of crypto investments.   In the first year of its operation, the organization raised $54 million via a successful Initial Coin Offering across 146 countries from 25,000 individual contributors across the globe. The platform has 700,000 active users across multiple countries, having established strong relationships with various banks with fiat gateways for 16 currencies and credit cards.  According to Gemini’s 2022 report ‘Global State of Crypto’, 35% of the UAE population have adopted some form...

Dubai's regulator is currently pushing forth its crypto custodial licenses. Last week VARA ( Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority) provided Komainu DeFi, digital asset custodian with a provisionary license and today it has provided Hex Trust, fully licensed and insured provider of bank-grade custody and associated services for digital assets a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) license.  The MVP license will allow Hex Trust to provide a wide range of virtual asset services to institutional clients and sophisticated investors] in Dubai within its framework for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The range of services Hex Trust can now provide includes Virtual Assets custodial services, Broker-Dealer Services and Staking Services.   Hex Trust opened its Dubai office in June 2022, which is run by Filippo Buzzi, and serves as its headquarters for the MENA region. Filippo Buzzi, Regional Director MENA of Hex Trust, commented, “Becoming one of the first virtual asset compan...

  Komainu,  a regulated digital asset custody provider created by  Japanese investment bank Nomura, digital asset manager CoinShares and digital asset security company Ledger.  has been granted a provisional regulatory approval from Dubai's   Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] to commence operational readiness. The provisional license will enable Komainu to be amongst the first fully regulated digital asset custody services to institutional clients in the region. As per the press release , Komainu acts as key gatekeeper to institutions gaining exposure to the digital asset industry with the provision of secure and regulated digital asset custody services for blockchain and beyond. Over the years, Komainu has established itself as one of the leading digital asset custody providers for institutional clients, providing the same safeguards and protections investors are accustomed to in traditional finance. The Custodian's industry-leading services have been ...