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Kraken Parent Gets Dubai Approval; UAE Dirham Trading Still Awaiting Launch

Payward says it has cleared Dubai’s final licensing stage, but Kraken has not set a UAE launch date. AED trading and direct dirham funding are planned.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read
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Payward, Kraken’s parent company, says it has received Full Market Approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the final stage of the licensing process as Payward describes it. Kraken is targeting a UAE client launch in the coming weeks, but no exact go-live date has been announced. The approval is a regulatory milestone—not confirmation that UAE customers can trade or move dirhams on the service today.

What Dubai’s approval means

Payward announced the approval on October 12, 2026. The company says Full Market Approval authorizes it to commence regulated activity in Dubai. Payward also says its preliminary approval in May allowed it to complete operational setup before client onboarding. These descriptions come from Payward; the precise license reference and any activity-specific conditions have not been independently confirmed against VARA’s public register.

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In a May 21 announcement, Kraken had described preliminary approval and plans for a locally regulated Payward subsidiary. It said UAE clients would connect to Kraken’s global order books, with availability subject to VARA requirements and retail-access rules. The October announcement updates the licensing status, but does not establish that customer access has begun.

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When will Kraken launch in the UAE?

Payward says Kraken is targeting a launch in the coming weeks. It has not provided a specific date, so the service should be treated as forthcoming until Payward confirms onboarding is open and customers can access the listed features.

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What Payward says is planned at launch

Payward’s announced initial offering covers UAE clients and institutional customers, with some features specific to institutions:

  • For UAE clients: spot and margin trading using AED-denominated pairs; direct dirham account funding and withdrawals; on-chain staking; xStocks; and Krak transfers.
  • For institutional clients: OTC spot trading and Kraken Prime.

The announcement does not identify which AED trading pairs will be offered. Nor does the stated plan establish that every feature will be available to every customer type from day one. Customers should check Payward’s live UAE service information for the actual launch scope and eligibility before relying on a particular feature.

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What may come later

Payward says crypto derivatives and a broader range of yield opportunities may follow later in 2026 and into 2027, subject to regulatory approval. They are future possibilities, not products the announcement establishes as approved or available now.

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What the announcement does—and does not—establish

Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said UAE clients would get “the same order book and multi-asset coverage we run in every other market,” under what he called one of the clearest regulatory frameworks in the world. This is the company’s characterization of the planned service and framework, not an independent assessment of market coverage or regulatory conditions.

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Payward also says it holds more than 100 licenses and registrations worldwide. That is a company-reported figure, not an independently verified count. The announcement supplies no independent statistic on UAE users, trading volume, or market share, and does not specify the precise license reference or activity-level conditions. For confirmation of current authorization, consult VARA’s register; for whether trading, AED deposits, or withdrawals are actually live, rely on Payward’s current UAE service information rather than the target timing in the announcement.

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