Number of Regulated Institutional Crypto Firms in Dubai Continues to Grow

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) continues to broaden its network of licensed market participants. Two international crypto companies received broker-dealer licenses, allowing them to serve qualified and institutional investors in the emirate under its regulated framework.

Flowdesk, which provides liquidity and infrastructure for the institutional crypto market and is backed by Coinbase Ventures and BlackRock, received a full broker-dealer license for its subsidiary, Flowdesk Omega FZE. Earlier, the company obtained Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization in France under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, allowing it to operate within the European Union’s regulated legal framework.

Bahrain-based ARP Digital, meanwhile, received authorization to provide regulated conversion services between digital assets, stablecoins, and the UAE dirham. The license also enables the company to offer institutional clients a compliant mechanism for transferring capital from digital assets into local investment instruments. ARP Digital is already licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, where it processed more than $3.5 billion in transactions for over 450 corporate and institutional counterparties.

The issuance of the new licenses underscores Dubai’s continued rise as one of the world’s leading hubs for the crypto industry. Although Dubai’s financial regulator tightened the rules governing virtual asset services in 2025, the emirate remains one of the most flexible jurisdictions for FinTech ventures. As of July 2026, VARA had issued more than 50 licenses to virtual asset service providers.