Dubai Crypto Market Adds 50th Licensed Firm as VARA Approves New Rules

Dubai’s crypto licensing ecosystem continues to expand. The emirate’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has granted its 50th virtual asset service provider (VASP) license, with tokenized-assets platform Tribe Tokenisation FZE receiving the latest approval on Monday.

While VARA’s license count is a useful headline for market growth, a regulator spokesperson cautioned that a granted license does not automatically mean a firm has already started commercial operations. Newly authorized companies may be required to go through a controlled operationalization period before offering services or onboarding customers.

Key takeaways

• VARA has issued its 50th VASP license to Tribe Tokenisation FZE, adding to Dubai’s rapidly growing authorization pipeline.
• VARA says an active license does not necessarily reflect that a company has completed its commercial launch.
• According to VARA, 39 licensed VASPs were considered fully operational at the end of 2025, with an updated 2026 figure being validated.
• Dubai’s licensing totals are higher than those seen in Hong Kong and Singapore, but the categories being counted are not directly comparable across jurisdictions.

What the 50th VASP license signals for Dubai

VARA’s approval of Tribe Tokenisation FZE reflects the continued rollout of Dubai’s standalone regulatory framework for virtual assets, created to attract digital asset businesses while keeping a distinct compliance track. VARA was established in March 2022 as Dubai’s dedicated crypto regulator.

The milestone matters most for firms planning expansions or new product launches, because licensing can influence whether customers, counterparties, and institutional partners treat a business as compliant and operationally ready. At the same time, VARA’s clarification helps calibrate expectations: the regulator indicated that licensing is only one step in a broader process that may include a period of controlled operationalization.

That distinction is important for investors and market observers because license approvals can outpace the moment when services actually become available to the public. Without additional context, a growing VASP count could look like instant market activation even when new entities are still preparing their infrastructure, controls, and customer-facing workflows.

Operational numbers: licenses versus “fully operational” status

VARA also pointed to the difference between being licensed and being active in the market. A spokesperson told Cointelegraph that holding an active license “does not necessarily” indicate a firm has completed its commercial launch. In practice, newly licensed companies may move through a controlled operationalization phase before they offer services or begin onboarding customers.

As of the end of 2025, VARA classified 39 licensed VASPs as fully operational. The spokesperson added that VARA is validating an updated figure for 2026, implying that the operational count may change as firms complete their rollout and as the regulator updates its assessment criteria.

For market participants, this creates a more nuanced way to interpret Dubai’s regulatory momentum: instead of treating license totals as a proxy for active competition, investors and users may want to monitor operationalization progress and VARA’s periodic “fully operational” updates.

How Dubai compares with Hong Kong and Singapore

Dubai’s 50 licensed VASPs place it above the headline numbers reported in Hong Kong and Singapore—two jurisdictions also attempting to position themselves as regulated destinations for crypto-related activity. However, VARA’s spokesperson emphasized that totals across jurisdictions are not directly comparable because each regime licenses different types of businesses.

In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) listed 37 major payment institutions (MPI) authorized to provide digital payment token (DPT) services. Singapore regulates DPT services within its payments framework rather than operating a standalone VASP regulator that mirrors VARA’s approach.

Hong Kong provides another contrast. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) lists 13 formally licensed virtual asset trading platforms, but the scope is narrower because the regime is specifically limited to operators of trading platforms, rather than covering the broader range of VASP activities that VARA may license under its framework.

VARA attributed Dubai’s market growth to an activity-based regulatory framework and a wider financial ecosystem supporting digital asset businesses. Beyond licensing categories, VARA said it also evaluates evidence of market activity such as transaction volumes, assets under management, employment, and audited financial data when assessing how the sector is developing.

Why the “activity-based” approach may affect market quality

A key takeaway from VARA’s explanation is that the regulator appears to be measuring more than just compliance paperwork. By considering transaction volumes, assets under management, staffing, and audited financial information, VARA is effectively pushing regulated firms to demonstrate real operational substance—not only formal authorization.

This approach can influence how quickly regulated firms convert from “licensed” to “business generating activity.” It also suggests why VARA’s operational figure (39 fully operational at the end of 2025) may lag behind the total license count as the regulator processes new entrants and as firms transition through operationalization.

For the broader market, these differences are especially relevant at a time when jurisdictions are competing for crypto business but varying significantly in how they structure oversight, define licensing categories, and evaluate readiness to operate. Dubai’s latest license adds another data point, but the more informative metric may be how many of those approvals translate into fully operational entities capable of meeting the regulator’s broader activity checks.

Next, investors and builders looking at Dubai’s regulatory landscape should watch for VARA’s updated “fully operational” count for 2026 and for signals on how quickly newly licensed firms complete their operationalization stages—because that is where licensing momentum is most likely to translate into real market activity.