Payward wins VARA approval to offer Kraken services in Dubai
Payward, Kraken’s parent, received preliminary VARA approval to offer spot and margin trading, staking, OTC and institutional crypto services via a Dubai-regulated unit.
Payward, the company behind Kraken, received preliminary approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority to offer a range of crypto services through a locally regulated unit in the United Arab Emirates. The authorization covers broker-dealer, investment and management activities and is subject to final regulatory sign-off.
Under the initial VARA authorization, Kraken will be able to offer Buy, Trade and Earn functions to retail and institutional clients in the UAE and provide access to Kraken Prime, the exchange’s institutional desk. Planned services include spot and margin markets, over-the-counter trading, staking products and user-to-user crypto transfers using Kraken’s Krak payment system.
Clients of the Dubai unit will be able to deposit and withdraw UAE dirhams directly and access Kraken’s global liquidity pools that link markets in the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Payward said.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, wrote that Dubai established clear rules for crypto before many other jurisdictions and that regulatory clarity has attracted liquidity and institutional capital to the UAE. He added that operating under VARA’s framework allows Kraken to serve regional clients through a locally supervised entity rather than relying on offshore structures.
Payward said the Dubai authorization will let the firm operate under local supervision and that final approvals are required before services go live. The company plans to roll out Buy, Trade and Earn services first and to expand into derivatives, lending and additional investment services for qualified clients once it secures the remaining regulatory permissions.
Dubai introduced dedicated licensing frameworks for virtual assets earlier than some other major markets, and VARA has been the emirate’s primary regulator for crypto activity. Several exchanges and crypto firms have established regulated operations in the UAE to operate under local licensing and to access local currency flows.
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