Dubai Government has released a new law on Virtual Assets and Related Activities (VARA). The Regulations set out a comprehensive Virtual Asset (VA) Framework built on principles of economic sustainability and cross-border financial security.

“As the world’s first independent regulator for virtual assets, VARA serves as a transparent and trusted guiding authority for the emerging world of Virtual Assets. VARA aims to take its mission global by creating an easy to replicate framework to regulate the industry. Leveraging expertise from global experts and organisations and collaborating with relevant local financial regulatory authorities, VARA is helping to mitigate risk and facilitate cross-border operations and innovation to enable safe market adoption and growth.”

The main objectives of The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) are:

• To position Dubai as a regional and international hub for Virtual Assets and related services and to develop a digital economy in the city to boost its competitive edge locally and internationally.
• To empower investors and increase awareness about Virtual Asset services and products and encourage innovation to promote real opportunity.
• To promote the new world of Virtual Assets and attract investments and businesses to set up their base in the Emirate of Dubai.
• To promote a shared responsibility in developing efficient and bespoke regulations for the protection of investors and to curb illegal practices in coordination with the concerned entities.
• To develop the regulations, rules and standards required for regulating, supervising and overseeing Virtual Asset Platforms, Virtual Asset Service Providers and all other matters related to Virtual Assets.

You can read/download the full set of detailed law document from here: