- No cryptocurrency firm has yet to fulfil the four-step procedure required by the VARA.
- MVP licensees are not authorized to sell their services to mass retail customers.
Omar Sultan Al Olama, minister of the digital economy in the United Arab Emirates, has said that the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the country’s virtual assets regulator, has not awarded any operational licenses as of yet. Al Olama allegedly said during the WEF that neither Binance nor FTX, nor any other cryptocurrency exchange business, has been awarded the full market product (FMP) license.
According to Al Olama’s comments on Laraontheblock, no cryptocurrency firm has yet to fulfil the four-step procedure required by the VARA. It follows that “no one was able to onboard any customers even last week.”
Binance received approval from the Virtual Asset Regulation Authority (VARA) in March 2022 to provide its services to eligible retail and institutional investors in Dubai. Multiple other cryptocurrency trading sites have also been granted similar licenses. It seems that certain cryptocurrency exchanges have exploited these permits to bolster their credibility with prospective customers.
Stage Gate (4) FMP License Required
However, the VARA has recently made it clear that the “Provisional” and “MVP-Preparatory” licenses awarded to Binance and other crypto trading platforms are only for the first and second stages, respectively.
For VARA’s part, these permits are provided only for the purpose of facilitating VASPs’ progress toward readiness after they have satisfied certain prerequisites. Also, the regulator restated Al Olama’s stance that no crypto company has been granted complete licensing.
In a statement similar to Al Olama’s at the WEF, the regulator said that MVP licensees are not authorized to sell their services to mass retail customers “until the stage gate (4) FMP license approval has been secured.”
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