Payward wins preliminary VARA approval for Dubai licenses

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, received preliminary approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for broker-dealer, investment and management licenses, the company announced Thursday. The authorization allows Kraken to offer regulated spot, margin and over-the-counter trading, staking and institutional services in the United Arab Emirates.

The approval brings Kraken under VARA’s supervisory perimeter in Dubai and permits the firm to provide a range of regulated virtual asset services. Payward said retail client activity in the UAE will be limited to services explicitly permitted under VARA’s retail-access framework.

UAE clients will be able to trade through Kraken’s global orderbooks that span Europe, the U.S. and APAC markets, with funding and withdrawals available in dirhams through a Payward entity regulated locally. The preliminary license creates a regulatory pathway for a physical operation in Dubai as the regulator finalizes licensing conditions.

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, commented: “Clients in the UAE get the same order book, the same balance sheet, and the same multi-asset coverage we run in every other market. The difference is the rulebook is written down and the supervisor is local. That is what a license should mean.”

Payward framed the Dubai approval as part of a broader plan to establish regulated, local operations in major financial centers. The UAE expansion follows Kraken’s rollout of CFTC-regulated crypto spot margin trading in the United States, which occurred after Payward completed its acquisition of derivatives venue Bitnomial and pursued other licensing avenues, including an application for a national trust charter with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Separately, Payward agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for $600 million in cash and stock, with shares issued based on a $20 billion company valuation; the deal is Payward’s first infrastructure acquisition in Asia. The firm reported $507 million in adjusted revenue for the first quarter of 2026, a 3% increase year over year, while adjusted EBITDA fell to $18 million from $168 million in the prior-year period.

The VARA approval is preliminary. Payward will remain subject to Dubai’s licensing conditions and ongoing supervisory oversight as it implements local operations. VARA has been issuing licenses and defining retail and institutional access rules as part of the UAE’s regulatory framework for virtual assets.