Senior Dubai official: VARA strikes the right balance in the timing of issuing licenses to cryptocurrency-related applicants

Sean McHugh, a senior official at the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), said in an interview on Tuesday that the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority believes it has struck the right balance in the timing of issuing licenses to cryptocurrency-related applicants, questioning any perception that the VARA is friendlier than the general cryptocurrency regulator.
Over the past year, VARA has granted full regulatory approval to major global cryptocurrency exchanges such as OKX, Crypto.com, and Binance.
VARA did not specify the average time frame for crypto-related entities to obtain the required licenses. However, representatives from at least two major exchanges told CoinDesk that these licenses take months to go back and forth for regulatory fine-tuning.
Earlier this month, VARA updated its rules on the marketing of virtual assets and then fined seven "entities" that did business without the required licences.