Payward Gains UAE Crypto License Approval as Kraken Deepens Middle East Push

Kraken is preparing to deepen its presence in the Middle East after securing preliminary approval from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), marking another milestone in the United Arab Emirates’ push to become a global center for digital assets.

Payward, the financial infrastructure company behind Kraken, said it received initial authorization for a broker-dealer, investment, and management license in Dubai. The approval clears the way for the exchange to offer a broad range of crypto services through a locally regulated entity.

The planned offering will include spot and margin trading, over-the-counter services, staking products, institutional access through Kraken Prime, and crypto transfers between users via its Krak payment system.

Clients in the UAE will also gain access to Kraken’s global trading infrastructure, including liquidity pools tied to major markets across the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Through a locally regulated subsidiary, users will be able to deposit and withdraw funds directly in UAE dirhams, streamlining access to global crypto markets.

“Dubai wrote a rulebook for crypto before most jurisdictions even acknowledged the asset class,” said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Payward and Kraken. “That clarity is why real liquidity and institutional capital now sit in the UAE.”

Sethi said operating under VARA’s framework allows Kraken to serve regional clients through a locally supervised structure rather than relying on offshore entities, an issue that has become increasingly important as regulators worldwide tighten oversight of digital asset platforms.

Kraken’s expansion is part of Payward’s broader strategy to establish regulated operations in major financial centers. Initially, Kraken plans to roll out its Buy, Trade, and Earn services in the country, subject to final regulatory approvals. Over time, the exchange intends to expand into derivatives, lending products, and additional investment services for qualified clients.

The move adds to a growing list of crypto firms choosing the UAE as a strategic base for regional and international operations. Dubai, in particular, has emerged as one of the industry’s most active regulatory jurisdictions after introducing dedicated crypto licensing frameworks years ahead of many Western markets.

Industry executives increasingly point to regulatory certainty as a key advantage for the UAE, as digital asset rules remain fragmented or politically contested in several major economies.

VARA has become central to that effort, positioning Dubai as a jurisdiction willing to accommodate crypto businesses while maintaining formal oversight standards. Kraken’s entry into Dubai further reinforces the UAE’s growing role in shaping the next phase of global crypto market infrastructure.

United Kingdom-based Blockchain.com Group Holdings Inc., a cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service, announced Thursday that it has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the United States. 

The details of the IPO remain undisclosed, with the number of shares or expected price range undetermined as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reviews the application. 

Founded in 2011, Blockchain.com began as a blockchain explorer, a type of analysis tool that allows visitors to view transactions on the global distributed ledger ecosystem and track them from their origin to their current state. As the company evolved, it became a cryptocurrency wallet and exchange, allowing users to buy, hold, sell and trade tokens on its platform. 

A blockchain is a tamper-proof digital database, or ledger. It securely distributes recorded transactions between numerous nodes and cryptographically secures information about the activity without a central authority. This allows tracking financial activity similar to a bank, without the need for a middleman, and enables highly secure transactions that are almost impossible to change retroactively. 

Blockchain.com describes itself as a leading infrastructure company with more than 95 million wallets created, facilitating more than $1.1 trillion in volume on its platform across over 20 products. These include consumer trading, wallet services, institutional products and blockchain data tools rather than a classic order-book exchange model. 

This IPO filing follows blockchain and crypto leaders entering IPOs, including major firms such as stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc., cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Space Station Inc. and digital asset platform Bullish Inc.  

The IPO of Bullish set an interesting precedent as well, as the company arranged to receive $1.5 million in proceeds from the deal in stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency token that is pegged to another currency, such as the U.S. dollar. This represented the first time a cryptocurrency had been used as part of the payout for an IPO.  

Cryptocurrency lending firm Figure Technology Solutions Inc. also filed for IPO last year. 

However, it hasn’t all been roses for IPO filers in the crypto industry. Other leading firms, such as cryptocurrency exchange Payward Inc., known as Kraken, paused its IPO, and French crypto hardware wallet Ledger Inc. also delayed its IPO, citing volatile market conditions. 

Image: Pixabay

Japanese Market Entry With a Strong Lobby Push

Polymarket, the blockchain-based prediction market that hit its first $10 billion monthly trading volume in March 2026, is making a calculated push into one of Asia’s largest and most regulated financial markets. Bloomberg reported on May 22 that the company has appointed Mike Eidlin as its Japan representative and is preparing to lobby regulators and lawmakers for authorization to operate prediction markets locally, with approval targeted by 2030.

Polymarket sees Japan as a large, untapped opportunity given that the country has one of Asia’s most developed retail investor bases and a strong appetite for speculative trading products. Prediction markets, however, currently sit in a legal grey area in Japan (neither explicitly authorized nor outright banned), meaning any formal operation at scale would require either a new regulatory category or a legislative amendment.

Japan has long been a bellwether for crypto regulation in Asia. Following the 2014 collapse of Mt. Gox, it was among the first countries in the world to implement a formal licensing framework for crypto exchanges, requiring all platforms to register with the Financial Services Agency (FSA). And, while that framework has expanded steadily, it has not yet addressed prediction markets as a distinct product class.

Polymarket Bets on Japan After $10B Trading Month

The 2030 approval timeline is deliberate because Japan’s regulatory process is, by any measure, extremely meticulous, and any new product categories, especially those tied to decentralized finance ( DeFi) infrastructure and crypto-collateralized markets, typically require extended review periods (sometimes extending into years).

Polymarket’s decision to appoint a representative now and begin lobbying early signals that the company is treating Japan as a long-term institutional project rather than an opportunistic expansion.

The move follows a string of platform milestones that have significantly raised Polymarket’s profile recently. Earlier this year, it received Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) authorization to operate as a designated contract market (DCM) in the U.S., a milestone that allowed it to launch perpetual futures trading.

Subsequently, in April, it introduced Polymarket USD, a new stablecoin that replaced bridged USDC.e as its primary collateral, alongside a smart contract infrastructure upgrade that cut gas fees.

Behind these offerings, the platform drew 678,342 unique users in April alone, more than eight times the implied user base of rival Kalshi. It has also been in talks to raise $400 million at a $15 billion valuation, reflecting broader investor confidence in the prediction market sector’s commercial potential.