ARP Digital Secures Dubai VARA License to Expand Gulf Services

Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, or VARA, oversees local crypto businesses and uses virtual asset service provider licenses to establish a regulated market. The increase to 50 licensed firms reflects Dubai's progress in attracting digital-asset companies, though the number of licenses does not necessarily represent the scale of actual operations.

VARA announced on June 29, 2026, that tokenized-asset platform Tribe Tokenisation FZE had received the market's 50th VASP license. No transaction value was disclosed. At the end of 2025, only 39 of the 50 licensees were fully operational, while the remainder may still have been in a controlled preparatory phase. VARA is verifying the latest operating figures for 2026.

Bahrain-based ARP Digital primarily provides institutional-grade digital asset trading services. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) licenses and oversees local virtual asset businesses. The broker-dealer license allows the company to expand under Dubai’s regulatory framework and use the emirate as a base to deepen its presence across the Middle East.

ARP Digital recently announced that VARA had granted it a broker-dealer license, enabling it to offer regulated digital asset services in Dubai and marking an important step beyond Bahrain. Existing reports did not disclose the exact approval or announcement date, the investment amount or the planned launch date. The company has also yet to announce its initial products, client roster or operating scale.