VARA has issued its 50th virtual asset license in Dubai, and Zain Umer (Co-Chair Policy and Regulations at Mena Fintech Association) has watched the entire journey from the inside. As CEO of CFC Mena and co-chair of the MFTA Policy and Regulations Working Group, he was part of VARA’s original team when license number one was issued four years ago.
In this episode of Capital Markets: Wall Street to Mena, Zain joins host Raghda Ibraheem to unpack what the 50-license milestone actually means. He explains why only 39 of those firms are fully operational, and why that gap points to a more robust regulatory system rather than a weaker one. He also breaks down what sets VARA apart from other regulators globally: its focus on operational readiness, its ongoing supervisory model, and a recruitment strategy that has pulled in experts from traditional finance and virtual asset management across the US, Hong Kong and Europe.
The conversation also covers the 50th license, awarded to real world asset tokenization platform Tribe, and what it signals about where Dubai’s crypto market is headed next. Zain predicts VARA could reach 100 licenses within the next 18 months, with growth spreading across stablecoins, real estate fractionalization and new investment management products.
Topics covered:
- What VARA’s 50 licenses signal for Dubai
- The gap between licensed and operational firms
- How VARA’s supervisory approach differs from other regulators
- Tribe’s license and the rise of real world asset tokenization
- What’s next for Dubai’s crypto ecosystem
Guest: Zain Umer, CEO, CFC Mena and Co-Chair, MFTA Policy and Regulations Working Group
Host: Raghda Ibraheem