TL;DR:
- Payward received preliminary approval from VARA in Dubai to operate as a broker-dealer with investment and management license.
- Clients in the United Arab Emirates will be able to access spot, margin, OTC, staking and dirham-funded services through a regulated local subsidiary.
- Kraken will connect Emirati users to its international order books, with deep liquidity across Europe, the United States and APAC.
Payward, the parent company of Kraken, obtained preliminary approval from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai to operate a combined broker-dealer, investment and management license. With this regulatory backing, Kraken will be able to offer a full range of services in the United Arab Emirates, including spot, margin and OTC trading, staking, peer-to-peer transfers via Kraken Pay and institutional access through Kraken Prime.
Clients in the region will also be able to fund and withdraw in dirhams (AED) through a regulated local Payward subsidiary, eliminating the typical complications of operating from an offshore platform. That same subsidiary will give them direct access to Kraken’s global order books, unifying liquidity across the major markets of Europe, the United States and the Asia-Pacific region.
Kraken is now authorized by VARA in Dubai.
Authorization covers spot, margin, OTC, staking, and institutional access through Kraken Prime.$AED funding follows later this year.
Full details: https://t.co/EUChz8IOQo
— Kraken (@krakenfx) May 21, 2026
Payward Sets Its Sights on the Top Financial Hubs
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, highlighted that Dubai built a regulatory framework for virtual assets before most jurisdictions even recognized the asset class. “That clarity is why real liquidity and institutional capital are now in the Emirates,” he stated. “Operating under VARA places Kraken inside that perimeter, serving clients through a locally supervised entity and not from the outside.”
Sethi also underlined that Emirati clients will have access to the same order book, the same balance sheet and the same multi-asset coverage available across all markets where the company operates. According to the executive, the difference lies in the fact that the rules are written down and the regulator is local, which is precisely what a license should mean.
More Products on the Way
Payward and Kraken are looking to establish regulated operations across different financial centers. The company plans to introduce its Buy, Trade and Earn products in the local market, and in a later stage incorporate derivatives, lending and new investment products for qualified clients.
