Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has hit a round number that matters. VARA has now issued its 50th license to a virtual asset service provider, a milestone that would have seemed wildly ambitious when the regulator was established just four years ago.
But here’s the thing. Licensing and actually operating are two different things. Only 39 VASPs were fully operational at the end of 2025, which means a meaningful chunk of licensed firms are still in the process of transitioning from approved-on-paper to open-for-business.
The gap between licensed and operational
VARA maintains a distinction that not every crypto regulator bothers with. It separates fully active licenses, which permit a firm to conduct business, from In-Principle Approvals, which are essentially regulatory green lights that don’t yet allow commercial operations.
As of May 2026, VARA’s public register lists 49 licensed entities active in the market. The most recent addition was CoinCorner Virtual Assets Broker & Dealer Services L.L.C., which secured its license on May 5, 2026.
