Binance FZE, Binance’s Dubai subsidiary, has become the first exchange in the world to receive an Operational Minimum Viable Product (MVP) License in Dubai. The license comes from the emirate’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA).
Binance highlighted in the announcement that residents of the UAE and other consumers from around the world who sign up through this entity would profit from increased investor protection and market assurance standards tailored for the VA sector and mandated by VARA for any licenses to provide regulated VA services, in and from Dubai.
Binance is working on global scalability
Binance FZE will now provide VA Exchange Services and VA Broker-Dealer Services to Dubai’s institutional and eligible retail consumers. As a result of the transition to an Operational MVP License, customers of Binance FZE who meet the requirements will have access to the approved services, including the secure conversion of VA to Fiat under strict Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliance standards.
Binance’s Richard Teng, Head of International Markets, stated that the company is dedicated to ensuring safe and seamless customer migration, including strong Know-Your-Customer and Customer-Due-Diligence, as part of the strict onboarding remediation required by VARA.
To set the platform for global scalability with uncompromised user assurance, he continued, it is their top objective to be allowed to run this first fully regulated exchange in and from Dubai in a FATF-compliant ecosystem.
According to Alexander Chehade, general manager of Binance Dubai, with this operational MVP license, all customers onboarded through this platform may anticipate access to a trustworthy and regulated service that emphasizes security and complies with very specific tier 1 VA rules under VARA.
Binance’s pursuit of expansion and regulatory compliance
The latest development comes after VARA granted the exchange the preliminary MVP License in September 2022, which established precise requirements to be satisfied to be approved for operations. The exchange also received a virtual asset license in Dubai in March, enabling it to expand limited exchange products and services to eligible investors.
According to Alexander Chehade, general manager of Binance Dubai, the last few years have solidified Dubai as a global virtual asset hub, and they are thrilled to witness that progress as they build on their operations.
In the announcement, Binance mentioned that the regulatory journey in Dubai is a turning point in the development of virtual asset services in the UAE and internationally. It also added that receiving the Operational MVP License from VARA represents a big step toward a future with regulated, secure, and client-focused virtual asset services. Meanwhile, Binance has been actively pursuing regulatory compliance in the Middle East, specifically United Arab Emirates. The exchange received provisional clearance in April to function as a broker-dealer in virtual assets in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to losing its partnership with European banking partner PaySafe last month, the exchange recently withdrew licensing applications in Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Austria. French administrators are also looking into the exchange because they claim Binance committed “acts of aggravated money laundering.” On the other hand, Australia has constrained the exchange’s ability to run a derivatives exchange outside of Europe and has stopped operations in Canada.
