Dubai VARA Grants 50th VASP License to Tribe Tokenisation

• VARA’s 50th VASP license expands Dubai’s regulated virtual asset ecosystem further.
• Only 39 licensed firms were fully operational at the end of 2025, according to VARA.
• Tribe’s license arrives as Dubai advances its regulated real estate tokenization drive.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has issued its 50th VASP license to Tribe Tokenisation FZE, advancing the emirate’s regulated crypto and tokenized asset market. VARA announced the approval on Monday, according to Cointelegraph, while explaining that total licenses do not show how many firms currently serve customers. The milestone places Tribe within Dubai’s growing regulatory framework as the city expands oversight of virtual asset businesses and develops its wider tokenization agenda.

Dubai Expands Its Standalone Crypto Licensing Program

Dubai created VARA in March 2022 to oversee virtual asset activity through a dedicated framework designed for crypto companies operating across the emirate. Since then, the authority has licensed 50 VASPs, giving Dubai a larger headline total than Hong Kong and Singapore under their respective regulatory systems.

Still, the three markets license different business categories, so their published totals do not offer a direct comparison of regulatory scale or operating activity. Singapore’s Monetary Authority listed 37 major payment institutions authorized to provide digital payment token services as of Friday.

Unlike Dubai, Singapore supervises those services through its broader payments regime rather than through a regulator focused only on virtual assets. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission listed 13 licensed virtual asset trading platforms, although that count covers only platform operators.

License Total Exceeds Dubai’s Operational Firm Count

A VARA spokesperson said an active license does not always mean a company has completed its commercial launch or started onboarding customers. New licensees may first enter a controlled operationalization period, which allows them to complete required steps before offering regulated services.

VARA counted 39 fully operational VASPs at the end of 2025 and is now validating a revised operating figure for 2026. That gap separates regulatory approval from active business activity and explains why Dubai’s total license count remains higher than its operational count.

How quickly will newly licensed firms move from formal approval to regulated commercial activity? The answer will depend on how fast each company completes operationalization and meets VARA’s wider expectations for market readiness.

Related: Sui Teams Up with Dubai’s VARA to Support Crypto Startups

VARA Tracks Business Activity Beyond Formal Approval

VARA also reviews transaction volumes, assets under management, employment levels, and audited financial data when assessing the strength of Dubai’s virtual asset market.  As a result, the regulator evaluates whether licensed firms maintain real operations rather than relying only on completed applications and formal authorization.

Those measures can affect how quickly new entrants advance from licensing into revenue-generating activity under Dubai’s regulatory structure. Tribe’s approval also arrives as tokenization gains a larger role in Dubai’s digital asset strategy.

The Dubai Land Department is working with VARA, the Central Bank of the UAE, and other institutions on a real estate tokenization pilot. The initiative aims to support fractional property ownership while linking regulated virtual asset infrastructure with Dubai’s broader real estate market.

For investors and builders, VARA’s updated 2026 operational count will provide a clearer measure of how licensing growth translates into active businesses. Market participants will also watch how quickly Tribe and other recent licensees complete operationalization and begin offering compliant products. Those figures will show whether Dubai’s expanding license base produces deeper activity across tokenization, trading, asset management, and other regulated virtual asset services.