Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, secured preliminary approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for a broker-dealer, investment, and management licence. The authorization, announced on Thursday, clears a regulatory pathway for Kraken's expansion into the United Arab Emirates and places the company under VARA's supervisory perimeter. The approval enables Payward to offer regulated virtual asset services in Dubai, including spot, margin, and over-the-counter (OTC) trading, staking, and institutional access through Kraken Prime, with retail client activity limited to services explicitly permitted under VARA's retail-access framework.
VARA Authorization and Service Offerings
Under the VARA approval, UAE clients will be able to trade through Kraken's global orderbooks spanning Europe, the U.S., and Asia-Pacific markets. Funding and withdrawals will be available in United Arab Emirates dirhams through a locally regulated Payward subsidiary.
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken, stated: "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."
International Expansion Strategy
Payward stated that the Dubai expansion aligns with its broader international corporate strategy to build regulated, on-the-ground operations across key global financial hubs. The UAE authorization follows Kraken's rollout of CFTC-regulated crypto spot margin trading in the U.S., which was introduced after Payward completed its acquisition of derivatives venue Bitnomial and pursued additional licensing pathways, including a national trust charter application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Payward separately agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments firm Reap Technologies for $600 million in cash and stock, with shares issued at a $20 billion valuation. The deal marks Payward's first infrastructure acquisition in Asia.
Payward reported $507 million in first-quarter 2026 adjusted revenue, up 3 percent year over year, while adjusted EBITDA fell to $18 million from $168 million in the prior-year period.
