MICA-licensed Flowdesk receives VARA license for UAE expansion

Dubai entity Flowdesk Omega FZE, a subsidiary of French-headquartered Flowdesk, a liquidity provider and virtual asset trading technology firm backed by BlackRock, Cathawy innovation, and Coinbase ventures, has received a crypto brokerage dealer license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA).

As per the announcement, Flowdesk in the UAE will be able to offer digital asset or crypto broker-dealer services to qualified and institutional investors in and from Dubai, UAE.

This follows the in-principle approval received just two months ago in June 2026.

Guilhem Chaumont, co-founder and CEO of Flowdesk Group, noted that the license from VARA Dubai is a defining milestone for the company.

He stated, “VARA has built one of the world’s clearest and most ambitious frameworks for virtual assets, and this license allows us to bring that same rigor to how we serve institutional and qualified clients in the region. The UAE has become central to our own growth as one of the world’s most important virtual asset markets. We’re proud to now operate as a fully regulated broker-dealer in Dubai, and we look forward to our continued partnership with VARA as the market matures.”

VARA has made Dubai the UAE’s digital finance hub

In March 2025, Flowdesk raised $102 million in investments, noting at the time that this would be used for its expansion plans and the opening of offices in the UAE.

It is now regulated not only in Dubai UAE, but also in Europe with a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) by l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) in France under MiCA. It also has offices in Singapore and the United States.

Dubai UAE has become a major hub for regulated VASP providers, and holds more than 50% of licensed VASPs in the UAE, followed by ADGM, CMA (UAE Capital Markets Authority) as well as DIFC.

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