Bahrain-headquartered digital asset firm ARP Digital has secured a Broker-Dealer licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), upgrading the in-principle approval it received in April.
The licence allows ARP Digital to provide UAE-domiciled corporates, capital markets participants and qualified investors with regulated conversion between digital assets, stablecoins and the UAE dirham. The UAE is now the company’s second regulated Gulf market, alongside Bahrain.
According to the company, the licence is intended to create a compliant route for deploying digital asset wealth into local UAE assets. ARP Digital said the market received more than $56 billion in digital asset value across 2024 and 2025, the largest concentration in the Gulf.
The firm already holds a Category 3 Capital Markets Crypto Assets Service Provider licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain. It said that business has processed more than $3.5 billion in volume for over 450 institutional and corporate counterparties, with fourfold year-on-year growth in 2025.
Founded by Abdulaziz and Abdulla Kanoo, ARP Digital has also partnered with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait on regulated stablecoin settlement rails. Its Dubai approval came the same day VARA granted a full broker-dealer licence to crypto market maker Flowdesk.
Source: Fintech News UAE
