The United Arab Emirates’ virtual assets regulator said no crypto entities have been granted a full market product (FMP) license. According to Omar Sultan Al Olama, the country’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy, no crypto entity “was able to onboard any customer, even last week.”
VARA has not yet granted a full market product license
The United Arab Emirates’ virtual assets regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), has not issued any operating licenses to date, according to Omar Sultan Al Olama, the country’s minister of digital economy. At the World Economic Forum (WEF), Al Olama reportedly said that crypto exchange entities, including Binance and FTX, have not been granted Full Market Product (FMP) licenses.
In March 2022, VARA stated that it granted Binance a Minimum viable product (MVP) license, which allows it to offer an approved range of virtual asset-related services to suitably qualified individuals and institutional investors in Dubai. Similar licenses have been issued to other crypto exchange platforms. Some crypto exchanges appear to be using these licenses in marketing their credentials to potential customers.
However, VARA now clarifies that the licenses issued to Binance and other crypto exchange platforms are only “provisional” in phase 1 and “MVP-Preparatory” in phase 2.
VASPs are not authorized to serve mass retail consumers
According to VARA, these licenses are only issued to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to meet pre-conditions and begin preparations. The regulator also reiterated Al Olama’s position that crypto entities are not fully licensed.
“To date, no VARA licensee has been awarded an MVP-Operating permit to provide regulated services or activities to market segments specifically authorized in the Emirate. Information or representations to the contrary are inaccurate and misleading,” the regulator clarifies in a market noticeon its website
In response to Al Olama’s message at the WEF, the regulator stated that MVP licensees will not be permitted to serve high-volume retail consumers “until Stage-Gate (4) FMP license approval is secured.”
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