Digital Asset Brokerage License UAE

ISIC classification: Other financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding activities, n.e.c. (6499)

Typically requires Designated Zone status for VAT purposes

About this activity

Facilitates client purchase and sale orders for tokenised digital assets by routing them to exchanges and over-the-counter counterparties.

Regulatory requirements

Requires external approval — Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) (Dubai) / Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA) (other Emirates)

100% foreign ownershipYes

Facility requirementLicensed VARA/SCA-Compliant Office with Cybersecurity & Risk Controls

Market Analysis

Same VARA Broker-Dealer Services license as Cryptocurrency Brokerage, Virtual Asset Broker-Dealer, and Virtual Asset Brokerage elsewhere in this dataset. AED 100,000 application fee, AED 200,000/year supervision, roughly AED 400,000-600,000 in required capital.

"Digital Asset Brokerage" as a naming choice suggests this DED entry may have been registered by a firm or consultancy positioning toward a broader digital-asset mandate (potentially including tokenized securities, not just cryptocurrencies) — but VARA licenses the broker-dealer *function* the same way regardless of which specific assets are traded, so the underlying license and cost are identical to its siblings.

Dubai-only in practice; 100% foreign ownership applies.

Available in: . A detailed per-emirate fee breakdown isn't published for this activity yet — check back soon, or get a scored recommendation for your specific business below.

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