UAE Securities and Commodities Authority receives requests for virtual asset licenses fining non compliant VASPs with $2.7 million

UAE Securities and Commodities Authority receives requests for virtual asset licenses fining non compliant VASPs with $2.7 million

According to a recent news release, The UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has received licensing requests and inquiries from companies intending to provide Virtual Asset services following the issuance of the necessary regulations. The UAE SCA also announced that those who do not apply for a license either to VARA or SCA will be fined $2.7 million.

The move aims to ensure that all companies that provide products and services related to the Virtual Assets sector in the country are fully regulated, as the SCA’s Board of Directors, chaired by Muhammad Ali Al-Shorafa seeks to strengthen the country’s position by ensuring that the local financial markets are among the best globally.

Dr. Maryam Al Suwaidi, CEO of the SCA, stated that pursuant to Cabinet Resolution No. (111) of 2022 regarding the regulation of Virtual Assets and their service providers, which gave the SCA the mandate to issue regulatory decisions for Virtual Asset transactions and license its service providers; the SCA’s Board of Directors issued the necessary decisions, which requires all companies providing Virtual Asset services based in the country (except for companies licensed in Financial Free Zones) to obtain a license from the SCA.

All companies operating in Dubai must only obtain a license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), which will inform the SCA to have a unified register of all licensed Virtual Asset service providers in the UAE.

She added that the Virtual Assets sector is among the modern technological industries included in the SCA’s strategy as one of the pillars for sustainable growth of the UAE’s financial markets.

The SCA called upon all companies that practice any of the Virtual Assets services to submit a request immediately to obtain the necessary approval to avoid being subjected to appropriate legal measures, which the Authority will initiate during the next stage, which may include one or more of the following: a warning, a fine not exceeding (AED10 million) equivalent to $2.7 million, or referring the violator to the Public Prosecution.

The SCA also urged all investors to refrain from dealing with any company that provides Virtual Assets services before ensuring that it has the necessary licenses and approvals to protect their investments and not expose them to any risks.

Oman takes the last step towards developing its virtual assets regulatory framework

Oman takes the last step towards developing its virtual assets regulatory framework

At the end of July 2023, the Oman Capital Market Authority issued a Public Consultation Paper on its Virtual Assets Regulatory Framework.

The Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman (CMA), which regulates and develops Oman’s financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, had earlier announced its plans to establish the new regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP).

As per the Oman Capital Market Authority announcement, the entity is currently in the process of drafting the comprehensive and facilitative regulatory framework, which will include a new regulation to cover all virtual assets activities, a licensing framework for all VASP categories and a supervisory framework to identify, assess, and mitigate ongoing risks. This is being done after the CMA had made an extensive global analysis and benchmarking with other jurisdictions.

The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities such as crypto assets, tokens, crypto exchanges, and initial coin offerings, among others.

The CMA has invited public and all relevant stakeholders, VASPs, financial institutions, academics, legal firms, consumer groups and other businesses that may be impacted by the VA and VASP frameworks, to provide their views and comments to the public consultation paper. The public consultation paper may be downloaded from the CMA’s website at www.cma.gov.om.

Responses are required within three weeks or before August 17th 2023. Responses to the public consultation paper can be made electronically via email to: kemal.rizadi@cma.gov.om.

In February 2023, Oman CMA announced its plans to develop a regulatory framework for virtual asets and VASPs. To assist in the development of a comprehensive regulatory framework for virtual assets in Oman, the CMA engaged the services of XReg Consulting Limited, an international policy and regulatory consultancy that specializes in virtual assets, and Said Al-Shahry and Partners, Advocates & Legal Consultants (SASLO), an Omani law firm.

OKX says Dubai’s Virtual asset regulator has given MVP Preparatory license approval …. But… has it really?

OKX says Dubai’s Virtual asset regulator has given MVP Preparatory license approval …. But… has it really?

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 USD and AED deposits, withdrawals and spot-pairs, to institutional and qualified retail customers.

OKX Global Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai said, “We’re thrilled to receive the MVP preparatory licence from VARA. Regulated entities are the future of digital assets and capital markets and Dubai and VARA have succeeded in creating a unique environment where VASPs can thrive. With the expansion into a new office this year, we are focused on hiring local staff and senior management. The MENA region has incredible potential as a centre of excellence for Web3 and virtual assets, we look forward to the opportunity to expand the already growing ecosystem across the region.”

OKX Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique  added “We’ve been waiting to enter the UAE and we want people here to experience our products first hand. We’re different – we do things in a measured and transparent manner. May was our seventh consecutive month of publishing our proof of reserves, making us the only crypto exchange globally with that commitment. This attitude is consistent with the brand partners who represent us, Manchester City Football Club, McLaren Racing, and the Tribeca Festival. We take our time, and do things the right way.”

But on VARA’s website OKX is not listed in its public register, while Crypto.com, Binance, and BitOasis are. This is despite the fact that both Crypto.com and Binance have the same license approval as OKX.

This is not the first crypto exchange or virtual asset service provider to unilaterally announce they have received a license yet have never been put on VARA’s public register. Examples include, Aquanow, Maskex crypto exchange, Fasset tokenized assets exchange, and many others.

The question that is puzzling is why? Why put some names and not others, why highlight some companies in VARA press releases, like for example BitOasis, Crypto.com, GCEX, Enjinstarter, Binance, Hextrust, , but not Maskex, OKX and many more?

It might seem to be a small discrepancy, but to those who look at the VARA website as a legitimate source for knowing the status of VASP entities regulated in Dubai, it is a significant slip-up or maybe not!

As an update to this article, OKX has now been listed on VARA’s registry page on its website, still waiting to see Maskex, Aquanow and others 

UAE Dubai virtual asset regulator publishes its virtual asset settlements and transfers rulebook

UAE Dubai virtual asset regulator publishes its virtual asset settlements and transfers rulebook

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 undertaken is permissible and can be facilitated through, and concluded in, all jurisdictions that are relevant to that transmission or transfer, and/or settlement.

The VASPs also have to comply with the compliance and risk management rulebook. VASPs providing VA Transfer and Settlement Services must comply with all requirements with respect to AML/CFT contained in that Rulebook, including but not limited to FATF-specific compliance requirements such as the Travel Rule.

The VASPs are liable to clients for the correct transmission, transfer or settlement of virtual assets to recipients whether from VASP wallet or VA wallet. VASPs are also responsible for the functioning of VA wallets or accounts of its clients for the purposes of receiving Virtual Assets, as well as providing all routing information that is necessary for a transmission or transfer, and/or settlement to be completed when requested by the sender’s VASP.

In addition VASPs must maintain records of all client instructions for a period of eight [8] years.

With this Dubai and the UAE have now finalized the major crypto and virtual asset rulesbooks, allowing VASPs to offer  transfers, and settlements for virtual assets. 

Crypto trading in Qatar flourishes despite Central Bank ban

Crypto trading in Qatar flourishes despite Central Bank ban

Over the past years and despite the continuous banning of crypto in Qatar by the Qatar Central Bank, crypto trading and investing in Qatar is flourishing reflected in various ways. 

The first reflection of the attractiveness of crypto trading in Qatar is the statement made by Qatar’s Ahli bank, at the end of May 2023. The bank warned customers against, trading, buying and selling virtual assets and currencies through accounts and banking services, citing the reasons as being associated with high risks.

Secondly Triple A report in January 2023 put Qatar’s crypto ownership at 0.9 percent of the population, around 24,000 people. Since then it could be the numbers have increased. Just over a year ago CoinMENA had announced that it was serving clients in Qatar. Even Bahrain’s RAIN crypto broker supports Qatar, as does UAE based BitOasis.

But the third and most significant reflection of the growth of crypto in Qatar is the recent MENA FATF report, where they mention that Qatar needs to work more on improving its risk understanding, implementation of TFS ( Targeted Financial Transactions) and NPO (Nonprofit organizations) preventive measures for virtual assets, and virtual asset service providers.

As mentioned in their report, “ Qatar has a very strong level of compliance with the FATF Standards, with only minor improvements needed in relation to risk understanding, implementation of TFS and NPO preventive measures, VAs and VASPs, wire transfers, transparency for legal persons and arrangements and cross-border movements of cash and BNIs.

So while Qatar has embraced blockchain, digital assets, and is studying the possibility of implementing CBDC, while shunning crypto, the population in Qatar seems to be moving forward with the crypto times.

A look into UAE Central Bank’s AML guidance document for virtual assets and what it means for the future of VASPs in UAE

A look into UAE Central Bank’s AML guidance document for virtual assets and what it means for the future of VASPs in UAE

The UAE Central Bank has issued its long awaited virtual assets and virtual assets service provider framework under the umbrella of a new guidance on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) for licensed financial institutions (LFIs) with a focus on the risks of dealing with virtual assets.

The actual document is more telling than the initial press release. In reality the UAE Central Bank has clarified what is considers as virtual assets and who can offer services in this realm, as well as how banks and financial institutions will work with VASPs when it comes to opening accounts for them and meeting compliance requirements. It also makes clear that virtual assets are not considered a legal tender in the UAE.

Now a lot has been made clear. Earlier this month, there was a position for a Fintech virtual assets senior manager job at a UAE Bank who was required to be specialized in Fintech and virtual assets compliance from a finance crime perspective, which was eye catching because there wasn’t anything yet announced from the UAE Central Bank. Yet now one thing is for certain, banks in the UAE will be scrambling to hire talents who understand the virtual asset ecosystem so they will be able to comply with the recent guidance.

Definition of virtual assets and VASPs

First the UAE Central Bank has defined as they mention in alignment with FATF definitions, what virtual assets are, leaving out of the definition CBDCs and security tokens, as well as some NFTs. As per the guidance, “A virtual asset is a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, or transferred, and can be used for payment or investment purposes, excluding digital representations of fiat currencies, securities, and other funds (such as those separately regulated by the competent authorities of the UAE, including the CBUAE, SCA, VARA, FSRA, and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”).”

It goes on to explain, “Virtual assets, so defined, typically include assets commonly referred to as cryptocurrencies, cryptocoins, payment tokens, exchange tokens, and convertible virtual currencies. Without prejudice to the definitions in the laws and regulations referred to above, stablecoins may be considered either virtual assets or traditional financial assets depending on their exact nature. No asset should be considered a virtual asset and a traditional financial asset (e.g., a security) at the same time.”

The guidance also discusses payment tokens offered and licensed by payment token service providers. Payment Tokens are defined as a type of Crypto-Asset that is backed by one or more Fiat Currency, can be digitally traded, and functions as a medium of exchange and/or a unit of account and/or a store of value, but does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction. A Payment Token is neither issued nor guaranteed by any jurisdiction and fulfills the above functions only by agreement within the community of users of the Payment Token. Payment Token Service Providers, in turn, are defined as persons engaged in Payment Token issuing, Payment Token buying, Payment Token selling, facilitating the exchange of Payment Tokens, enabling payments to Merchants and/or enabling peer-to-peer payments, and Custodian Services related to Payment Tokens.

What Virtual assets are not

As for NFTs, they are not considered virtual assets, but this does depend on the nature of the NFT and its function. As stated, “Some NFTs that on their face do not appear to constitute VAs may fall under the VA definition if they are used for payment or investment purposes in practice.”

The guidance makes it clear that the Central Bank of the UAE does not accept or acknowledge virtual assets as a legal tender/currency in the UAE; rather, the only legal tender in the UAE is the UAE dirham. As such, those accepting VAs as payment for goods and services or in exchange for other assets bear any risk associated with the future acceptance or recognition of VAs.

The guidance adds,  by definition VAs cannot be digital representations of fiat currencies, securities, or other separately regulated financial assets, a bank record maintained in digital format, for instance, that represents a person’s ownership of fiat currency is not a VA. However, a digital asset that is exchangeable for another asset, such as a stablecoin that is designed to be exchangeable for a fiat currency or a VA at a fixed rate, could still qualify as a VA, depending on the relevant features of such a stablecoin.

VASP activities overview

There are five basic activities that fall under VASPs as per the UAE Central Bank, but these are not considered as comprehensive only meant for illustrative purposes. They include virtual asset exchange, virtual asset brokers, who transfer ownership of VA from one user to another, virtual asset custodians, P2P exchanges, remittance payments, payment for nonfinancial g goods or services, or payment of wages. A provider offering such a service will likely be a VASP.

The UAE Central Bank has even considered decentralized virtual assets Exchanges or decentralized finance (“DeFi”) application creators, owners, and operators as VASPs given they maintain control or sufficient influence in the DeFi arrangements, even if those arrangements seem decentralized, may fall under the definition of a VASP where they are providing or actively facilitating VASP services. For example, there may be control or sufficient influence over assets or over aspects of the service’s protocol, and the existence of an ongoing business relationship between themselves and users; even if this is exercised through a smart contract or in some cases voting protocols.

Even entities that provide related financial services to issuer’s who offer or sell virtual assets through participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer or sale of a Virtual asset through activities such as initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) are considered as VASPs.

Licensed Financial Institutions AML CFT

Finally as per the AML-CFT Decision, every natural or legal person who carries out any VASP activities, provides VASP products or services, or carries out VASP operations from the state must be licensed, enrolled, or registered by a competent supervisory authority in the UAE.

LFIs are strictly prohibited from establishing relationships or processing transactions with individuals or entities that perform covered VASP activities and are not licensed to do so by UAE authorities. It is therefore essential that LFIs form an understanding of whether its customers perform covered VASP activities and, if so, whether they have fulfilled applicable UAE licensing requirements. LFIs are not permitted to establish relationships or process transactions with foreign VASPs that have not secured a license to operate as a VASP from UAE authorities, even if the foreign VASP is duly licensed or registered outside the UAE.

The guidance warns that LFIs may be indirectly exposed to VA or VASP activity through its customers that use their account or relationship with the LFI to provide downstream financial services to VASPs. In the case of VASP customers, this may include the provision of accounts or custodial wallets that can be used directly by customers of a third-party VASP to transact business on the customer’s own behalf.

The AML-CFT Law brings virtual assets and virtual asset service providers within the scope of the UAE’s AML/CFT legal, regulatory, and supervisory framework. Under Articles 9 and 15 of the AML-CFT Law, VASPs must report suspicious transactions and information relevant to such transactions to the UAE FIU, and under Articles 13 and 14, supervisory authorities are authorized to assess the risks of VASPs, conduct supervisory operations (including inspections) of VASPs, and impose administrative penalties on VASPs for violations of applicable laws and regulations.

Conclusion

In conclusion this is the first comprehensive framework that the UAE Central Bank has published which will allow a select number of VASPs to be able to deal with the licensed financial institutions in the UAE. It will not be easy for the financial sector as the AML and CFT requirements are exhaustive, but it will also not be easy for the VASPs.

Moreover, there is one gap that seems huge and over looked by the UAE Central Bank, and that is what if licensed financial institutions actually want to offer Virtual asset services. So what if a bank actually wants to offer VA custodial services, or VA payment services, or brokerage services, can they both be the provider and the client and what happens to AML and CFT requirements then.

In Bahrain for example the Central Bank is allowing crypto entities to move into the other financial arenas and has even allowed the first digital bank which deals in digital assets to make their base in the country.

Another question that can be raised, is that in a country which has called for more international cooperation and coordination when it comes to regulating virtual assets, then concurrently does not allow any of its financial institutions to deal with any VASP not regulated in the UAE even if they are regulated in other jurisdictions, what precedence is the UAE making in this regards and is reciprocity the new name of the game?

With regulations taking force in UAE especially when it comes to virtual assets, the country that once boasted of having 1800 blockchain and crypto entities might see that number dwindle as most of these companies will not be able to comply to the regulatory requirements rendering them unable to receive services from the banking sector. 

We can already see this decline in number on the new website for VARA, where there were once dozens of names listed as on the course of receiving licenses, today there is a handful.

Next to be published will definately be the payments rulebook under VARA which was missing before. Can’t wait to see what that will bring to the table. 

UAE Central Bank issues guidance defining business models for Virtual assets, and Virtual assets service providers

UAE Central Bank issues guidance defining business models for Virtual assets, and Virtual assets service providers

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) in a press release announced that it has issued a new guidance on anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) for Licensed Financial Institutions (LFIs),  banks, finance companies, exchange houses, payment service providers, registered hawala providers and insurance companies, agents and brokers as well as setting clear descriptions of virtual assets and Virtual asset service providers business models. 

His Excellency Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, stated, “The new guidance related to the virtual assets sector contribute to strengthening the supervisory and regulatory frameworks of the Central Bank to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. We are constantly working to enhance efforts and strengthen the awareness of licensed financial institutions to prevent all kinds of financial crime activities, and reduce potential risks to protect the financial and monetary system and maintain its soundness and stability, in line with the Financial Action Task Force standards.”

The new guidance will assist LFIs’ understanding of risks and effective implementation of their statutory AML/CFT obligations, and takes Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards into account. It will come into effect within one month.

The new guidance discusses the risks arising from dealing with virtual assets (VA) and virtual asset service providers (VASP) and sets out clear descriptions of VAs, VASPs and VASP business models. The guidance describes various channels and mechanisms of interaction between LFIs and VASPs.

The guidance outlines the customer due diligence (CDD) and enhanced due diligence (EDD) for LFIs towards potential VASP customers and counterparties, with the aim of de- risking, supporting them with training programmes, a governance system and record- keeping mechanisms.

This comes after MENA FATF adopted several recommendations proposed by Abu Dhabi including those pertaining to virtual assets.  

UAE regulated virtual assets activities now offered at Department of Economy and Tourism branches

UAE regulated virtual assets activities now offered at Department of Economy and Tourism branches

In a recent announcement by Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory authority ( VARA), the Department of Economy and Tourism is now offering regulated virtual assets activities in its branches.

This means that Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) seeking to conduct business in Dubai’s mainland or make changes to their current commercial licenses may submit their applications for the below-mentioned activities at DET branches.

The list of Regulated Virtual Assets Activities (require a license from VARA) include, VA Advisory Services,  VA Broker-Dealer Services,  VA Custody Services,  VA Exchange Services, VA Lending and Borrowing Services and  VA Management and Investment Services. In addition to VA propriety trading which requires a NOC from VARA. 

Firms carrying on VA activities in Dubai [except DIFC] prior to 7 February 2023 [Legacy VASPs], must have their applications seeking regulatory oversight or relevant guidance from VARA by the final deadline of 30 April 2023.

As per the announcement, firms that have failed to comply with the regulatory framework by the aforementioned deadline must comply immediately to avoid substantial punitive measures including material fines/penalties and potential firm closure.

DET Centres offering commercial licences for the Regulated Virtual Assets Activities are available in – Al Barsha Mall, DED Café, Palm Strip Mall Jumeriah,  Al Twar Centre , Dubai Mall and  Clock Tower Deira

UAE Securities and Commodities Authority issues two new virtual asset regulations for rulebook

UAE Securities and Commodities Authority issues two new virtual asset regulations for rulebook

According to a recent Baker McKenzie client alert, the UAE Security and Commodities Authority has issued two new regulations pertaining to virtual assets. UAE SCA will be creating a list of accepted virtual assets as well as regulations allowing already regulated financial institutions to offer virtual asset services while amending capitalization requirements for virtual asset exchanges, custodians, and brokers.

These regulations while published in Arabic were translated by Baker Mckenzie in their client  report.

As per the report, the SCA has issued two new decisions,  (26/RM) of 2023 in relation to Virtual Assets Platform Operators (the “SCA VA Exchange Regulations“); and  Decision No. (27/RM) of 2023 amending SCA Chairman of the Board of Director’s Decision No. (13/RM) of 2021 in relation to the SCA Rulebook (the “SCA Rulebook Amendments Regulations“).

The SCA VA Exchange Regulations define VAs as a “digital representation of a value that can be traded or digitally transferred and can be used for investment purposes, and does not include digital representations of fiat currencies, securities, or other funds”.

The SCA VA Exchange Regulations clarify that VA Exchange Platform Operators will be subject to certain provisions of: the SCA Board of Director’s Decision No. (2/R) of 2001 concerning the Regulations as to Trading, Clearing, Settlement, Transfer of Ownership and Custody of Securities, as amended (the “SCA Trading & Settlement Regulations“); and the SCA Rulebook (SCA Chairman of the Board of Director’s Decision No. (13/RM) of 2021).

Samir Safar-Aly, MENA FinTech & AI Lead at the international law firm, Baker McKenzie, told Lara On the Block, “SCA is fulfilling its role as the federal level VASP regulator in the UAE. Following Cabinet Resolution No. 111 of 2022, in addition to being the UAE’s federal-level securities, commodities and capital markets regulator, SCA became the federal VASP regulator. This is a positive step towards making the UAE, as a whole, a jurisdiction with a supportive legal and regulatory framework for Virtual Assets and Crypto-related services. There are significant consumer protection and financial crime related concerns within the Virtual Assets and Crypto sector, and having a regulatory framework to support growth is what many major players in this space are often struggling to find in other jurisdictions.”

Baker Mckenzie  states that the SCA have taken a similar approach to that of the DIFC’s DFSA and the ADGM’s FSRA (both of which have taken a ‘Recognized Crypto Token’ / ‘Accepted Virtual Asset’ approach) in that no VAs may be traded on such platforms unless approved on the SCA’s Official List of Virtual Assets.

UAE Cabinet Resolution 112 outlines that VARA’s decisions shall be consistent with the decisions issued by the SCA.

As for the relationship between SCA and other regulatory authorities, Samir, explains to Lara on the Block, “Under both Cabinet Resolution No. 111 and No. 112 of 2022, the relationship between SCA and other “Local Licensing Authorities” (which only includes VARA at the moment), makes it clear that the SCA would retain sole regulatory remit over “digital securities” and “digital commodities” in Onshore UAE. Separately, UAE Cabinet Resolution 112 outlined the relationship between the SCA and VARA in particular, whereby there will be joint regulatory roles between the two authorities through delegated authorities (granted to the SCA under UAE Cabinet Resolution 111) to VARA accordingly.”

As per Baker McKenzi, the second of the New SCA Regulations, amends certain provisions of the SCA Rulebook in relation to VAs and includes VAs to the list of products that may be dealt or brokered by SCA-regulated financial institutions.

The definition of ‘Brokers’, ‘Dealers of Financial Products’, ‘Financial Consultation’, ‘Portfolio Management’ and ‘Custody’ services, all now extend to and cover VAs, with relevant compliance-related obligations.

Samir explains, “Under the new SCA regulations, existing SCA-regulated financial institutions can extend their activities to Virtual Assets. However, this will need to be in collaboration with discussions with SCA to ensure that adequate systems, controls, expertise and disclosures are in place, including relevant amendments to regulatory business plans and compliance / AML policies”

Finally a new Category 7 License in relation to VASPs has been added to the SCA Rulebook, outlining the following capital requirements, a capitalization of AED 1 million plus six months of operating expenses if the activity is operating a VA Exchange Platform only; a capitalization of AED 2 million if the activity is the Brokerage of VAs; a capitalization of AED 4 million plus six months of operating expenses if the activity is the Custody of VAs; and a capitalization of AED 5 million plus six months of operating expenses if the operator of a VA Exchange Platform provides any other VA service.

As for the future, Samir expressed that both digital Securities and digital Commodities, under Cabinet Resolution No. 111 of 2022 remain in the regulatory purview of SCA in Onshore UAE including the ‘Onshore’ Dubai territory that VARA covers. He expects SCA to issue guidance relevant to such products in the near future.

As for payment tokens, Samir clarifies that this is the regulatory remit of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). When VARA issued its Rulebooks in February this year, it noticeably did not issue its Payments & Remittances Services Rulebook. He states,” I would expect this to be issued in due course once similar arrangement to those that have taken place between VARA and SCA, take place between VARA and the CBUAE.”

Dubai Virtual Asset regulator CEO speaks on the current and future status of regulations at VARA

Dubai Virtual Asset regulator CEO speaks on the current and future status of regulations at VARA

During DACOM (The Digital Asset Compliance and Market Integrity Summit) hosted by Solidus Labs, a crypto-native market surveillance and risk monitoring hub tailored for digital assets, in Abu Dhabi on May 4th 2023, Dubai’s virtual asset regulator CEO stated that only 50 percent of Dubai’s legacy VASPs (those who were operating before VARA was set up) applying for license at VARA will need to be regulated. He also talked about the opportunity to launch regulation and compliance as a service for small business and entrepreneurs.

Henson Orser, CEO of Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, VARA, discussing VARA’s licensing journey with strong legal risk compliance, stated, “Currently we have three cohorts that are passing through several processes and routes to being fully licensed, the Minimum Viable product cohort that includes global operators who were with us from day one.  There are also legacy VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers), several hundred of them who have been performing virtual asset activities in Dubai before VARA came along. We are in the process of registering them and believe half of them will need regulatory licenses.” He mentions that there are also new applicants who will join the regulatory process going forward.

Orser added, “VARA is offering a nuanced approach to virtual asset regulation that does not need to define a token or coin as a security or commodity to fall into an existing framework but covers any activity in a way that affords investor protection and have compliance in such a way that we hope other global regulators would be comfortable with by design and principle.”

According to Orser, VARA is currently looking at several hundred VASPs within their ecosystem which entails a lot of compliance and risk officers, as well as general counsels and legal advisors. He mentions given the fact that there are many micro businesses and entrepreneurs there is a great opportunity for regulation and compliance as a service offering. As he states, “Regulation and compliance as a service offering will mutualize cost and leverage expertise.” 

Orser believes the most important thing is that VARA is building a hub of global financial services with innovation and technology at the cross roads of the world including within it a strong compliance risk management and legal framework which he says “ VARA will stand out as a foundational principle and will be a thriving fixture of the community.”

As for the future, Orser states that from a regulatory standpoint once there is a steady state on licensing, supervision, and enforcement for the three existing cohorts today, VARA given it is technology agnostic and a promoter of innovation, will launch a regulatory sandbox to have a framework for product development of the future.

He states that the future will include tokenization of real world assets, including real estate, as well as micro financing, royalty rights for creators and publishers, with smart contracts for movies /music, permissioned DeFi (Decentralized Finance), gaming and the metaverse. Here he sees, “A billion users will start to challenge the boundaries of title and value” and finally interoperability, transfers identity and more.

In his final words he believes that many innovators and developers are coming to Dubai because of the growth oriented environment and open minded regulator which encourages compliant operators without sacrificing core principle of investor protection, FATF Compliance and risk. Accordingly he believes, “Blockchain technology is here to stay and its applications will infiltrate more than we can imagine same goes for gaming metaverse and all things Web3.”