SendTech Times
العربية
Fintech & Digital PaymentsPolicy|July 16, 2026, 10:53 AM
REGULATION WATCH:

Revolut Adds VARA Crypto Approval To UAE Payments Licences

BySendTech Times Fintech DeskNewsroom-edited, source-reviewed coverage|Source: PYMNTS
Newsroom brief

PYMNTS reported that Revolut received in-principle VARA approval for a UAE VASP licence, weeks after Central Bank of the UAE payment licences. PYMNTS said final approval is still required, with the UAE launch date, crypto pricing and first customer numbers outside the public record.

Verified against source materialEdited by SendTech Times Fintech Desk
Revolut Adds VARA Crypto Approval To UAE Payments Licences
Image source: PYMNTS

A preliminary VARA approval gives Revolut a second UAE regulatory track, adding virtual-asset permissions to the payments licences the company received from the Central Bank of the UAE in June.

PYMNTS reported that the company secured in-principle approval for a Virtual Assets Service Provider licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

The approval remains conditional on final regulatory sign-off before the services can be offered in the UAE.

VARA Approval Covers Broker-Dealer And Exchange Services

Subject to final approval, the VASP licence would allow broker-dealer, management and investment, and exchange services in the UAE.

The services would run through the company's retail app and the standalone RevolutX exchange.

Joseph Khair, head of Revolut Digital Assets FZE in the UAE, said in the company release that the approval supports VARA's goal of a safe, transparent and innovation-driven virtual-assets ecosystem.

The quoted statement described the approval as a foundation for introducing virtual-asset services within a regulated environment.

The crypto approval follows earlier UAE payments permissions.

The June report said the company had received Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services Category II licences from the Central Bank of the UAE.

Central Bank Licences Came Before The UAE App Launch

After the central-bank licences, the company said it was preparing a full-scale UAE launch of its global financial platform.

Once live, the platform would let UAE customers hold and manage multiple currencies, make payments with physical and virtual cards, and send money locally and internationally from one app.

The sequence leaves separate regulatory records for payments and virtual assets in the UAE.

The VASP permission is still subject to final approvals, and the earlier payments update described a planned product launch.

Expansion Plans Extend Beyond The UAE

The UAE moves sit alongside wider market-entry activity beyond the United Kingdom and Europe.

The September account said the company had been securing licences in several new markets.

Nik Storonsky, co-founder and chief executive, said in the company's March annual report that the business had become diversified and profitable at scale.

June reporting cited expansion plans that included a South Africa launch by 2028.

The PYMNTS account did not identify final VARA approval timing, a UAE commercial launch date, local crypto pricing or first customer numbers for the planned services.

Share this article
inXf

Related articles

More
Circle OCC Approval Creates Federal Trust Bank Route For USDC Custody
Fintech & Digital Payments

Circle OCC Approval Creates Federal Trust Bank Route For USDC Custody

Final OCC approval for Circle National Trust creates a federally supervised custody route for USDC, but the bank opening date, first institutional customers and reserve-management migration timing remain outside the public record.

Taiwan Crypto Law Sets FSC Licences And 100% Stablecoin Reserves
Fintech & Digital Payments

Taiwan Crypto Law Sets FSC Licences And 100% Stablecoin Reserves

Taiwan approved the Virtual Asset Service Act, requiring crypto platforms to obtain FSC licenses while stablecoin operators face central-bank approval and 100% reserves. The law sets penalties, but the start date and first approvals remain unnamed.

Sberbank Plans Crypto Wallet As Russia Sets September Digital-Asset Law
Fintech & Digital Payments

Sberbank Plans Crypto Wallet As Russia Sets September Digital-Asset Law

Sberbank plans to add a crypto wallet and digital depository to Sberbank Online and SberInvestments by December if Russia’s digital-asset bill takes effect as expected on Sept. 1. The plan follows years of central-bank resistance and leaves fees, eligible tokens and launch conditions undisclosed.

SEC Chair Says Tokenized Deposits Could Get Approval Next Year
Fintech & Digital Payments

SEC Chair Says Tokenized Deposits Could Get Approval Next Year

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said regulators could approve tokenized deposits as soon as next year, while also tying crypto rulemaking to bank-capital talks with the Fed, FDIC and OCC.

Sony Wins OCC Conditional Trust Charter For Stablecoin Unit
Fintech & Digital Payments

Sony Wins OCC Conditional Trust Charter For Stablecoin Unit

Sony disclosed that the OCC has conditionally approved a U.S. national trust bank for Connectia Trust, a Sony Financial Group subsidiary that would issue and manage dollar-denominated stablecoins. Sony said the unit will be capitalised at $40 million, while trade groups and consumer advocates objected to the charter path.

Open USD Stablecoin Draws 140 Backers But Launch Timing Stays Open
Fintech & Digital Payments

Open USD Stablecoin Draws 140 Backers But Launch Timing Stays Open

Open Standard launched Open USD with backing from banks, card networks and fintech firms, while the consortium said the stablecoin will go live later this year without naming commercial volumes or merchant adoption targets.

Keep Reading

More Stories

Latest
Sheetz Moves 11,000 VMs Off VMware After Broadcom Licensing ShiftCloud & Data CentersJul 16, 2026Sheetz Moves 11,000 VMs Off VMware After Broadcom Licensing ShiftArs Technica reported that Sheetz is moving around 11,000 VMs across 838 locations from VMware vSphere to StorMagic SvHCI. The convenience-store chain has migrated more than 600 stores, while contract values, software licensing costs and final support terms remain outside the report.US Export-Control Shift Opens UAE AI Chip Access, DCD ReportsChips & SemiconductorsJul 16, 2026US Export-Control Shift Opens UAE AI Chip Access, DCD ReportsData Center Dynamics reported that the US government has moved the UAE into a lower-restriction export-control category, giving UAE companies broader access to advanced AI chips from Nvidia and AMD. The account names G42 and hyperscaler data-centre projects, but it does not list chip volumes, approved licences or specific UAE projects.Cadence Adds AuraStack AI Agent For PCB And Advanced Packaging DesignChips & SemiconductorsJul 16, 2026Cadence Adds AuraStack AI Agent For PCB And Advanced Packaging DesignThe Register reported that Cadence Design Systems introduced AuraStack, an agentic AI system for PCB and advanced packaging workflows. Cadence cited a 15x productivity claim and named Nvidia among customers, but The Register did not include pricing, availability dates, full customer names or independent benchmark results.OpenAI Backs State AI Safety Baseline As Federal Cyber Tests NearCapital & PolicyJul 16, 2026OpenAI Backs State AI Safety Baseline As Federal Cyber Tests NearOpenAI said California, New York and Illinois have advanced frontier AI safety legislation with shared disclosure, incident-reporting and audit elements, while a federal cyber-testing framework is still targeted for early August.Intel Ships Panther Lake Chips Built With ASML High NA EUVChips & SemiconductorsJul 16, 2026Intel Ships Panther Lake Chips Built With ASML High NA EUVIntel has shipped selected Panther Lake processors made on Intel 18A with ASML High NA EUV lithography, Interesting Engineering reported, giving Intel production data while customer names, shipment volumes and wider node timing remain undisclosed.Thinking Machines Releases Inkling Open-Weights Model With 975 Billion ParametersAIJul 16, 2026Thinking Machines Releases Inkling Open-Weights Model With 975 Billion ParametersSiliconANGLE reported that Thinking Machines Lab has released Inkling, its first foundation model, with full open weights and fine-tuning through Tinker. The account cited 975 billion total parameters, about 41 billion active parameters per average prompt and training on about 45 trillion tokens, while leaving customer deployments and independent benchmark validation undisclosed.OpenAI Keeps GPT-Red Attack Model Private After Prompt-Injection TestsAIJul 16, 2026OpenAI Keeps GPT-Red Attack Model Private After Prompt-Injection TestsThe Next Web reported that OpenAI has built GPT-Red, an internal automated red-team model for prompt-injection attacks, but is keeping the attacker private. The report cited attack success rates above 90% against an older GPT-5 and below 23% against GPT-5.6, while noting that human testers still catch cases GPT-Red misses.Nokia And NVIDIA Push AI-RAN Roadmap Toward 2027 Field TestsChips & SemiconductorsJul 16, 2026Nokia And NVIDIA Push AI-RAN Roadmap Toward 2027 Field TestsNokia announced an AI-native RAN platform with NVIDIA Aerial integration and claimed demonstrated spectral-efficiency gains of more than 20%, while its larger 50% and 100% capacity targets remain tied to 2027 and 2028 roadmap milestones.OpenAI Adds Usage Analytics And Spend Controls For ChatGPT WorkAIJul 15, 2026OpenAI Adds Usage Analytics And Spend Controls For ChatGPT WorkOpenAI said GPT-5.6 uses 54% fewer output tokens and 57% less time per task in a named coding-agent index, while its enterprise guidance tells ChatGPT Work admins to manage AI spend by accepted outcomes, usage analytics and governance controls rather than token price alone.IMEC Outlines CMOS 2.0 Path As AI Compute Demand RisesAIJul 15, 2026IMEC Outlines CMOS 2.0 Path As AI Compute Demand RisesCommonWealth Magazine English reported that IMEC's new CEO Patrick Vandenameele outlined semiconductor roadmap work tied to AI inference demand, CMOS 2.0 stacking, memory placement and optical interconnects. CommonWealth reported that Vandenameele estimated a 150-fold workload increase as AI shifts from training to inference, while TSMC's Kevin Zhang pointed to nanosheet, CFET and 3D stacking work.Allstate Says Broadcom Ordered Four Audits After VMware ExitCapital & PolicyJul 15, 2026Allstate Says Broadcom Ordered Four Audits After VMware ExitArs Technica reported that a June filing accused Broadcom of starting four audits after Allstate chose not to renew VMware and CA contracts. VMware and CA have separate cases against the insurer, while the filings leave its current virtualisation stack and production impact undisclosed.Oracle Adds AI-Native Builder For Fusion Agentic ApplicationsAIJul 15, 2026Oracle Adds AI-Native Builder For Fusion Agentic ApplicationsYahoo Tech, republishing Verdict, said Oracle introduced an AI-native builder inside AI Agent Studio for Fusion Applications. Oracle said the builder supports no-code, low-code and pro-code work, runs inside Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, and can extend over 1,000 existing AI agents and 22 Fusion Agentic Applications.