Binance Receives Operational MVP License in Dubai

​Following a failed application for a license in Germany​, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced that its Dubai subsidiary, Binance FZE, has become the first exchange to receive the Operational Minimum Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). With the license, Binance now can offer virtual asset exchange services and virtual asset broker-dealer services to institutional and qualified retail investors in Dubai.

Binance obtained a provisional MVP license in March 2022 and a preparatory MVP license in September 2022. The issuance of the operational MVP license marked a milestone for its business development, as noted in the announcement by Binance.

Richard Teng, Head of Regional Markets at Binance, said: "We are honored to be the first exchange to be granted an operational Minimum Viable Product License by VARA — a result of over a year of due diligence, collaboration, and consistent demonstration of responsible intent – that now allows us to be able to leverage the potential of a progressive regulatory framework, enabling innovation while furthering user protection.

"Operating within this regulated ecosystem, we are committed to ensuring secure and seamless customer migration, with robust Know-Your-Customer and Customer-Due-Diligence as part of the rigorous onboarding remediation as stipulated by VARA. Our priority is to be able to operate this first fully regulated exchange in, and from Dubai, in a FATF-compliant ecosystem, setting the stage for global scalability with uncompromised user assurance."

More and more crypto firms have begun to flock to Dubai in recent year. Over the past six months, several leading crypto exchanges such as OKX​, Bybit, Crypto.com and Deribit​ have entered Dubai one after another. Additionally, Standard Chartered​ announced its plans to launch digital asset custody services in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) subject to regulatory approval.