Classes of VA Licenses

Minimum paid-up statutory capital

Government fees

Advising

offering, providing or agreeing to provide a personal recommendation to a client, either upon its request, or on the initiative of the Entity providing the recommendation, in respect of one or more actions or transactions relating to any Virtual Assets

AED 100,000

AED 40,000

Broker-Dealer

any of the following—
[a] arranging orders for the purchase and sale of Virtual Assets between two Entities;
[b] soliciting or accepting orders for Virtual Assets and accepting fiat currency, or other Virtual Assets, for such orders;
[c] facilitating the matching of transactions in Virtual Assets between buyers and sellers;
[d] entering into Virtual Asset transactions as a dealer on behalf of the Entity for its own account;
[e] making a market in Virtual Assets using client assets; or
[f] providing placement, distribution or other issuance* related services to clients issuing Virtual Assets.

The higher of [i] AED 400,000; or [ii] 15% of fixed annual overheads (if using a VARA licensed custodian);

OR

the higher of [i] AED 600,000; or [ii] 25% of fixed annual overheads.

AED 100,000

Custody

Safekeeping Virtual Assets for or on behalf of another Entity and acting only on verified instructions from or on behalf of such Entity*.

The higher of [i] AED 600,000; or [ii] 25% of fixed annual overheads.

AED 100,000

Exchange Services

any of the following—
[a] conducting an exchange, trade or conversion between Virtual Assets and fiat currency;
[b] conducting an exchange, trade or conversion between one or more Virtual Assets;
[c] matching orders between buyers and sellers and conducting an exchange, trade or conversion between [i] Virtual Assets and fiat currency or [ii] one or more Virtual Assets; or
[d] maintaining an order book in furtherance of [a], [b] or [c] above.

The higher of [i] AED 800,000; or [ii] 15% of fixed annual overheads (if using a VARA-licensed custodian);

OR

the higher of [i] AED 1,500,000; or [ii] 25% of fixed annual overheads.

AED 100,000

Lending and Borrowing

carrying out a contract under which a Virtual Asset shall be transferred or lent from one or more parties [the Lender[s]] to one or more other parties [the Borrower[s]] where the Borrower[s] shall commit to return the same, at the request of the Lender[s], at any time either during or at the end of the period agreed upon.

The higher of [i] AED 500,000; or [ii] 25% of fixed annual overheads

AED 100,000

Management and Investment

acting on behalf of an Entity as an agent, or fiduciary, or otherwise taking responsibility for the management, administration or disposition of that Entity’s Virtual Assets.

Examples may include, but shall not be limited to—
[a] investment management services or otherwise managing Virtual Assets; and
[b] taking responsibility for the staking of Virtual Assets for the purposes of earning fees or other amounts paid to validators and/or node operators of a proof-of-stake Distributed Ledger Technology.

The higher of [i] AED 280,000; or [ii] 15% of fixed annual overheads (if using a VARA licensed custodian);

OR

higher of [i] AED 500,000; or [ii] 25% of fixed annual overheads.

AED 100,000

Feature/Classes

Virtual Asset Licenses

Type of company required to be eligible

LLC

Corporate taxation

9%

Main requirements

– Local Director (Fit & Proper)

– Local Compliance (Fit & Proper)

– Local Office

– Internal and External Audit

Approximate Timeframe

A complete license application is normally decided upon within 6-10 months from the date of filing