Dubai Regulator Grants Crypto Trading App Okx License to Extend Services in the UAE

The Seychelles-based crypto trading app, Okx, recently became the latest virtual assets service provider to be granted a provisional licence to provide its services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The provisional licence allows Okx to extend certain exchange products and services to pre-qualified investors and financial service providers.

OKX Allowed to Extend Certain Exchange Products

The Dubai digital asset regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), recently granted the Seychelles-based crypto trading platform Okx a “provisional virtual assets license to provide services to qualified investors in the UAE.”

According to a statement released by Okx, this license “allows it to extend certain exchange products and services to pre-qualified investors and financial service providers.” Remarking on the VARA’s decision to grant the provisional license, Okx general manager for Dubai, Lennix Lai said:

The MENA region is one of the fastest-growing markets for our industry, and we are very excited to be at the heart of this thriving ecosystem. Okx looks forward to contributing meaningfully to the free exchange of ideas that is going to be so important to the development of this space while innovating for the future in a regulated framework.

In the statement, Okx said it is committed to helping build the necessary infrastructure as well as its team in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Okx added that it will also participate in the VARA regulatory ecosystem “by facilitating research and knowledge sharing with the goal of making Dubai a leading hub for the global virtual assets industry.”

Dubai a Top Hub for Crypto Industry

Since its establishment earlier this year, VARA has granted provisional approvals or licenses to cryptocurrency exchange platforms that range from Binance to the Bahrain-based Coinmena. According to Tim Byun, the Global Government Relations Officer at the OK Group, by granting Okx the provisional license VARA has once again proved that it is “one of the top global hubs for the industry.”

The provisional license is also a reflection of the UAE’s leadership in nurturing the future global economy, Byun added.