Kraken re-enters the UAE with preliminary license from VARA Dubai

Payward, a unified financial infrastructure platform and the parent company of Kraken, has received an in-principle approval for a license through Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority for a crypto broker service, investment, and management offering. This comes years after Kraken closed its office in the UAE after receiving its license from ADGM.

As per the press release, Kraken now has the regulatory approval to offer a full range of services in Dubai. This will include spot, margin, and OTC trading, staking, and access to Kraken Prime for institutional clients, as well as crypto transfers between users through Kraken.

Kraken expands into the UAE

UAE traders will benefit from the same features and services that Kraken clients have across Europe, the USA, and APAC. Through Payward, the UAE locally regulated subsidiary, customers will be able to utilize the UAE currency AED for on-ramping and off-ramping.

According to Arjun Sethi, the CO-CEO of Payward and Kraken, Dubai was the first to cover virtual asset regulations, ” Dubai wrote the rulebook for crypto”, and it is that clarity that has put the UAE as a liquidity and institutional capital. 

He added that operating under VARA puts Kraken inside that perimeter, serving clients through a local, supervised entity rather than from offshore.

This launch is part of Payward’s broader global growth strategy to establish regulated, on-the-ground operations in key financial centers.

Sethi continued, “Clients in the UAE get the same order book, the same balance sheet, and the same multi-asset coverage we run in every other market. The difference is the rulebook is written down and the supervisor is local. That is what a license should mean.”

Kraken will introduce its Buy, Trade and Earn products to the UAE, offering direct access to spot trading and staking, subject to regulatory approval. Over time, Kraken will expand its offering to include derivatives, lending and new investment products for qualified clients.

Kraken joins international crypto exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Crypto.com, and others in the UAE and MENA market.

In 2023, Kraken announced that it had received a license from ADGM in Abu Dhabi, but since then, the license has been dissolved. Kraken had been the first global cryptocurrency exchange to receive a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license to operate a regulated virtual asset exchange platform in the ADGM to service the needs of the Middle East and North Africa region.

Kraken in 2023 had closed three offices, which included offices in San Francisco, Japan, and the UAE. It now seems Kraken is back.