Kraken Parent Holds Preliminary Dubai Approval for UAE Expansion

Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has preliminary approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for licenses that would support a planned expansion of Kraken services in the United Arab Emirates.

The approval covers broker-dealer, investment and management activities, but final licensure is still required before the planned products become available.

Kraken plans to let UAE customers fund and withdraw accounts in United Arab Emirates dirhams through a locally regulated Payward subsidiary. The proposed offering includes spot and margin trading, staking, over-the-counter trading and Krak transfers.

Institutional customers would also have access to Kraken Prime and over-the-counter spot trading. The company has not confirmed a launch date, a list of AED trading pairs or the availability date for individual products.

Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said, “Dubai wrote a rulebook for crypto before most jurisdictions even acknowledged the asset class.” The planned UAE business is intended to serve retail, professional and institutional customers subject to VARA rules and applicable conditions.