Kraken parent Payward has received Full Market Approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, clearing the exchange to operate as a regulated virtual asset service provider in the UAE for retail, professional and institutional clients.

The decision completes a licensing process that moved from preliminary approval in May to full approval in October. Kraken said it expects to begin serving UAE customers in the coming weeks, with dirham-based trading and local banking access forming the core of its initial rollout.

What the approval allows

The VARA decision is the final step in Dubai’s licensing framework for the company. With that approval in place, Kraken can launch regulated services for multiple customer groups in the UAE rather than operating under only preliminary clearance.

At launch, the company said UAE users will be able to access spot and margin trading in dirham-denominated pairs, along with dirham deposits and withdrawals. Kraken also plans to offer on-chain staking, its xStocks tokenised equities product and the Krak app for crypto transfers.

Institutional services and regional expansion plans

For institutional clients, Kraken said the initial offering will include over-the-counter spot trading and the Kraken Prime brokerage service. Payward also said it intends to make its infrastructure available to regional partners through an embedded trading-as-a-service product.

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, said UAE clients will receive the same order book and multi-asset coverage that Kraken provides in its other markets from launch.

Derivatives still need further approval

One notable gap in the first phase is crypto derivatives. Payward said derivatives and additional yield products are expected later in 2026 and into 2027, but only if further regulatory approvals are granted.

That means Kraken will enter the UAE market without perpetual futures at launch, even though those products account for a large share of trading volume at competing exchanges in the region. The company has not given a specific date for when derivatives may go live.

Competition in Dubai’s regulated exchange market

Kraken is entering a market where several large exchanges already operate under VARA licences, including Binance, OKX, Bybit and Crypto.com. In that landscape, dirham trading pairs and local banking rails appear to be central to Kraken’s initial competitive pitch.

Dubai has increasingly become the preferred regulated entry point into the Gulf for global crypto exchanges. Kraken had already established a regional presence through a 2022 licence from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s financial regulator, although that approval was not referenced in the company’s latest announcement.

Broader licensing push and next steps

The UAE approval adds to Payward’s wider regulatory expansion. The company said it now holds more than 100 licences and registrations globally and reported 6.6 million funded accounts as of June 30.

For now, the next confirmed step is the UAE launch itself, which Kraken said should happen within weeks. The company has not disclosed a target number of UAE users, and the timeline for derivatives remains dependent on additional approvals.

Source: www.blockhead.co