Crypto Staking Services 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

Locks client tokens into proof-of-stake networks on their behalf to earn staking rewards, sharing yield after a service fee.

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

Crypto staking services, when offered to third-party clients rather than run purely on the provider's own holdings, generally falls under VARA's Management and Investment Services or Custody categories (the provider is managing and often holding client assets) — see the management cluster elsewhere in this dataset for the AED 100,000 application / AED 200,000 annual supervision fee structure that applies in that scenario.

If instead this describes a platform's own protocol-level staking rewards program (not accepting third-party deposits, just distributing rewards to the platform's own token holders), the regulatory picture is lighter and closer to standard tech licensing.

Given how much the answer depends on the specific business model, this is a strong candidate for a qualifying question in any user-facing tool built on this dataset rather than a single quoted fee.

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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