The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Dubai’s cryptocurrency regulator, has granted its 50th Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license.
On Monday, VARA announced that the latest approval had gone to tokenized asset platform Tribe Tokenisation FZE.
This milestone provides one measure of the development of Dubai’s cryptocurrency licensing system, although license totals alone do not show how many companies are operating or the level of business they are generating.
A VARA spokesperson told Cointelegraph that having an vigorous license does not necessarily mean the company has completed its commercial launch. Newly licensed businesses may undergo a controlled operationalization period before offering services or accepting customers.
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At the end of 2025, VARA classified 39 licensed VASPs as fully operational. A spokesman said the regulator was approving updated data for 2026.
Dubai is trying to attract crypto companies
Dubai has positioned itself as a global hub for digital asset companies over the past few years. As part of these efforts, the emirate adopted VARA in March 2022 as a dedicated cryptocurrency regulator and sought to attract cryptocurrency companies through a stand-alone licensing framework.
Against this backdrop, Dubai’s 50 licensed VASPs exceed the total number recorded in Hong Kong and Singapore, two other jurisdictions competing to attract regulated crypto firms. Each jurisdiction licenses different types of cryptocurrency companies, which means the headline totals do not represent identical categories of companies.
As of Friday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) listed 37 Major Payment Institutions (MPIs) authorized to provide Digital Payment Token (DPT) services. Singapore regulates DPT services as part of a broader payment system, rather than through an independent VASP regulator such as VARA.
List of licensed virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong. Source: SFC
Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong listed 13 formally licensed virtual asset trading platforms. The number is narrower because the system is particularly narrow to platform operators.
A VARA spokesman attributed the growth of the Dubai market to the activity-based regulatory framework and the broader financial ecosystem, and said the regulator, when assessing market activity, also takes into account transaction volume, assets under management, employment and verified financial data.
