UAE Says No Virtual Asset Service Provider Has Been Granted an Operating Permit.
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VARA Has Yet to Grant a Full Market Product License
The United Arab Emirates’ virtual assets regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), has not issued any operating license to date, the country’s digital economy minister Omar Sultan Al Olama has said. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Al Olama reportedly said that no crypto exchange entity including Binance and FTX has been granted the full market product (FMP) license.
As per Al Olama’s remarks published on Laraontheblock, no crypto is yet to complete the VARA’s four-step process. Accordingly, this means “no one was able to onboard any customers even last week.”
In March 2022, the VARA said it had granted Binance a minimal viable product (MVP) license which allowed it to offer an approved range of virtual asset-related services to suitably qualified retail and institutional investors in Dubai. Similar licenses have also been issued to other crypto exchange platforms. Some crypto exchanges have seemingly used these licenses when touting their credentials to potential clients.
However, the VARA has now clarified that the licenses issued to Binance and other crypto exchange platforms are only “Provisional” at stage one, or “MVP-Preparatory” at stage two.
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