Kraken parent Payward wins final VARA approval for UAE launch

Kraken has its permission slip for the UAE. Payward, the exchange’s parent company, has received Full Market Approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for its subsidiary Payward FZCO.

The approval came on October 12, 2026. It clears Kraken to begin serving clients in the United Arab Emirates in the upcoming weeks, with trading, staking and transfers on the menu.

What the license actually covers

The approval classifies Payward as a Virtual Asset Service Provider, or VASP. It falls under three categories: broker-dealer, investment, and management.

The license applies to retail, professional, and institutional clients. That means everyday users and large firms are both in scope from the start.

At launch, UAE clients will be able to trade spot and margin on pairs denominated in AED, the UAE dirham. Spot trading means buying and selling assets outright. Margin trading means borrowing to increase the size of a position, which amplifies both gains and losses.

Clients will also get access to on-chain staking. Staking lets users lock up certain tokens to help secure a blockchain network, typically in exchange for rewards.

Users will be able to fund accounts and withdraw directly in dirhams through Kraken’s local entity.

The institutional pitch

Kraken is not only courting retail traders. Institutional clients will have access to over-the-counter (OTC) trading and advanced services through Kraken Prime.

OTC desks handle large trades privately rather than on a public order book. That way, a big buy order does not move the market price before it is filled.

Kraken says these clients will tap deep liquidity drawn from its global order books. Those books span Europe, the US, and the APAC region.

The timeline also matters. Kraken received its preliminary approval from VARA on May 21, 2026, roughly five months before the full green light.

More products are planned, pending approval

The launch lineup is not the full ambition. Payward plans to roll out additional offerings, including derivatives and yield products, through 2026 and 2027.

Those plans are contingent on further regulatory approvals. Nothing beyond the initial suite is guaranteed until VARA signs off.

Background: Dubai’s regulated hub strategy

Dubai has positioned itself as a regulated hub for digital assets. VARA, set up in 2022, is responsible for overseeing virtual asset activities within Dubai beyond the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and it maintains a public register of licensed virtual asset service providers.

Payward already holds more than 100 licenses globally. The UAE now joins that portfolio, with Kraken’s local operations falling under local supervision.