By Tom Whitfield

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has received full market approval from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), clearing the exchange to operate across the United Arab Emirates as a regulated virtual asset service provider.

The company announced the license on Tuesday, saying it can now serve retail, professional and institutional clients in the Emirates. The approval follows a preliminary VARA green light in May, which let Payward finish its operational set-up before onboarding customers.

What can UAE clients trade at launch?

Kraken will open with spot and margin trading in dirham-denominated pairs, with direct funding and withdrawals in the local currency. The offering mirrors the product set Kraken runs in other licensed jurisdictions:

• On-chain staking
• xStocks tokenized equities
• Krak, the firm's crypto transfer service
• OTC spot trading and Kraken Prime for institutional clients

Crypto derivatives and additional yield products will follow later in 2026 and into 2027, subject to regulatory approval. That sequencing keeps Payward inside VARA's staged licensing framework, which separates initial operational permissions from full market activity.

How does the license fit Kraken's broader expansion?

Payward now holds more than 100 licenses and registrations worldwide, spanning Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The UAE approval adds a jurisdiction where regulators have built a dedicated virtual-asset regime, and where rival exchanges have already clustered.

The Dubai license lands amid a run of dealmaking. In September, Bloomberg reported that Nasdaq Inc. would invest $100 million in Payward at a $21 billion valuation, with Kraken distributing Nasdaq's tokenized stocks on its platform.

Payward and SoFi Technologies have also announced a partnership that routes SoFi customers' crypto orders through Kraken Prime — the prime brokerage arm launched in 2025 — and lists SoFi's stablecoin on the exchange.

Why is Kraken pushing into traditional finance?

Kraken, like other major exchanges, is extending beyond crypto into stocks, bonds and other conventional assets. The company markets its app as a "primary account for everything," positioning itself against both banks and incumbent trading platforms.

The UAE launch extends that model into a market with high digital-asset adoption and a regulator that licenses tokenized products directly. For institutional clients, Kraken Prime and OTC desk access in Dubai means a local base for servicing regional funds and family offices.

Regulatory approval for derivatives and yield products remains the next checkpoint. If VARA clears those filings on the 2026-2027 timeline, Kraken would move from a spot-and-staking venue in the Emirates toward a full-service trading platform.