Dubai approves Komainu to provide regulated crypto custody services

The Dubai government’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) is beginning to approve provisional licenses for Bitcoin and crypto institutional service providers, such as the Japanese Nomura subsidiary Komainu. 

Dubai: VARA grants a provisional license to Japanese bank subsidiary Komainu  

Komainu, a Bitcoin and crypto custody service provider and a subsidiary of Japan’s $471 billion bank Nomura, has reportedly landed in Dubai with a new provisional license from VARA, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. 

Basically, as of now, the process of due diligence begins to ensure that Komainu’s operations in the Dubai territory comply with VARA’s requirements in order to grant the final license. 

On the other hand, Komainu has established itself as a leading provider of digital asset custody services for institutional clients, providing the same guarantees and protections that investors are accustomed to in traditional finance. 

In this regard, H.E. Helal Saeed Almarri, President of VARA, said:

“Komainu’s entry into VARA’s regime is symbolic of the confidence and credibility that the Virtual Assets industry is gaining when backed by such strong endorsement from traditional finance leaders like Nomura. Such acceptance and active participation of tier 1 global institutional finance firms is not only an affirmation of Virtual Assets being integral to the future of finance, but also indicative of the potential that this industry can offer for economic empowerment. Dubai is pleased to welcome credible players like Komainu into VARA’s virtual assets ecosystem”.

RAKBANK and Kraken offer customers a way to buy and trade Bitcoin in AED 

Remaining in the UAE, there is another new development involving banks and crypto: the new partnership between RAKBANK and the crypto-exchange of Kraken MENA (Kraken).

We are proud to share that #RAKBANK will become the 1st UAE bank to enable #Kraken, one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, to offer transparent, efficient, dirham-based digital asset trading to their UAE-based customers:https://t.co/fHO4qsaK2x#Cryptocurreny #Crypto pic.twitter.com/PGowmbeeof

— RAKBANK (@RAKBANKlive) July 18, 2022

“We are proud to share that RAKBANK will become the 1st UAE bank to enable Kraken, one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, to offer transparent, efficient, dirham-based digital asset trading to their UAE-based customers”.

The new partnership will allow RAKBANK customers to buy and trade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in local AED currency, using their bank account. 

In addition, RAKBANK, which is regulated by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, will allow Kraken, which is licensed by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), to have its UAE resident customers fund their cryptocurrency accounts through local funds transfers from any UAE bank. 

Huobi exchange also obtained Dubai’s VARA license

Recently, the Huobi crypto-exchange also announced that it has obtained its provisional license from VARA to operate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

Its subsidiary in the UAE, Huobi Investment FZE, will now be able to offer a full suite of virtual asset exchange products and services within the parameters set by VARA’s specialized “test-adapt-scale” model. 

Dubai and VARA are leading the way with their efforts to create a sophisticated and progressive regulatory framework that will enable the region to become one of the world’s most favorable jurisdictions for digital asset initiatives.