Payward FZCO, Kraken’s regional subsidiary, secured preliminary broker-dealer, investment and management authorization from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. The approval moves Kraken closer to a regulated return in the UAE, positioning the exchange to offer virtual-asset services in Dubai once local authorization steps are completed.
The clearance complements Kraken’s existing Financial Services Permission in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, granted in April 2022. Together, the approvals strengthen Kraken’s regional infrastructure, bringing localized fiat access, institutional execution and regulated market entry into sharper focus for UAE clients.
Dubai Approval Opens a Broader Product Path
The preliminary VARA authorization covers a wide set of virtual-asset activities for retail and professional investors. Kraken expects to offer spot trading, margin trading, OTC execution, staking and peer-to-peer crypto transfers under Dubai’s regulatory framework.
The exchange also plans to make Kraken Prime available to qualified clients. That institutional platform will bring custody, OTC services and unified account infrastructure to professional users seeking regulated access to Kraken’s global liquidity stack.
Kraken’s “Buy, Trade and Earn” product suite is also part of the planned rollout. Derivatives and lending remain potential future additions, but those products will require further regulatory approvals before becoming available in the market.
VARA will supervise retail access rules, meaning product availability will not be uniform across all users. Retail and professional cohorts will face different onboarding and compliance requirements, shaping how quickly each segment can access Kraken’s services in Dubai.
AED Rails Could Reduce Settlement Friction
Payward’s local regulatory status enables direct funding and withdrawals in UAE dirhams through a locally licensed entity. Kraken plans to introduce AED on- and off-ramps later in 2026, supported by a banking partnership with RAKBANK for dirham-denominated transactions from Emirati bank accounts.
“UAE clients will have the same order book, balance sheet and multi-asset coverage that Kraken provides in other international markets,” said Arjun Sethi, Kraken’s co-CEO. That parity would connect Dubai users to Kraken’s global execution network across Europe, the United States and Asia-Pacific.
The company is treating the VARA authorization as a phased milestone rather than a completed launch. A final license still depends on VARA’s remaining authorization process, and the timing of product availability will depend on regulatory sign-off and operational rollout.
Kraken will also enter a competitive Dubai market where several exchanges already hold full local licenses. The firm’s ability to win institutional flow will depend on execution quality, fiat settlement speed and order-book depth, not approval status alone.
Kraken Prime combined with local AED rails could lower settlement friction and improve access to cross-market liquidity. For retail users, VARA-specific rules will determine the practical scope of access, including onboarding standards and product eligibility.
The next market test will come after final VARA approval and the launch of AED funding. Those milestones will determine Kraken’s real impact on UAE crypto liquidity, trading costs and regulated access to global markets.
