ARP Digital secures VARA approval for institutional crypto services
The VARA license gives ARP Digital its second regulated Gulf market.
ARP Digital has obtained a Broker-Dealer license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), which enables it to offer regulated digital asset and stablecoin conversion services into UAE dirhams for institutional and other eligible clients.
The new license marks the firm’s expansion from Bahrain into the UAE and will allow it to serve UAE-domiciled corporates, capital markets participants and qualified investors. ARP Digital plans to provide a regulated gateway through which institutions can convert digital assets into local fiat and deploy digital capital into UAE assets.
The company said the approval addresses a longstanding infrastructure gap in the UAE, where substantial digital asset wealth is held by individuals and institutions but compliant mechanisms for deploying that capital into local markets have been limited.
ARP Digital said its Bahrain business is licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain and has processed more than $3.5 billion in volume across more than 450 institutional and corporate counterparties. Volume increased fourfold in 2025 from a year earlier.
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With the VARA approval, the UAE becomes ARP Digital’s second regulated market. The firm said its strategy is to build regulated digital capital infrastructure across the Gulf as institutional demand for digital assets increases.