Virtual Assets in the UAE Webinar 2026 Online

The Virtual Assets in the UAE Webinar is a 90-minute online briefing on Thursday 5 November 2026, run by Dubai Chambers with the law firm Afridi & Angell, that updates businesses in Dubai and across the UAE on the country’s virtual asset rules. Its full title is “Virtual Assets in the UAE: Regulatory Developments, Licensing and Compliance Considerations”, and it is delivered in English on Zoom, beginning at 11am UAE time.

Why a Virtual Assets UAE Webinar Now

Dubai regulates virtual assets through a dedicated authority. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, VARA, was set up under Dubai Law No. 4 of 2022, published in March that year, and it regulates virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) across the emirate, with the exception of the DIFC, which has its own regulator. VARA issued its Marketing Regulations in August 2022 and its full Virtual Assets and Related Activities Regulations in February 2023.

Since then the framework has kept growing, with new activity-specific rulebooks and updates to existing ones. For businesses that hold a licence, or are preparing an application, keeping track of those changes is part of staying compliant, and this webinar is designed to bring attendees up to date on recent developments, enforcement trends and the practical difficulties firms meet when applying the rules.

VARA’s Rulebooks Explained

Much of the session centres on how VARA’s framework is built. Every licensed firm must follow four compulsory rulebooks:

• the Company Rulebook
• the Compliance and Risk Management Rulebook
• the Technology and Information Rulebook
• the Market Conduct Rulebook

On top of these sit activity-specific rulebooks, which add requirements depending on which regulated activities a business actually carries out, and a separate rulebook covers the issuance of virtual assets. The law firm Bird & Bird’s summary of the 2023 package counted seven activity-specific rulebooks alongside the four compulsory ones, and more have been added since. Understanding which of these apply to a particular business model is the first step towards a licence application, and the webinar sets out how the pieces fit together.

What the Webinar Covers

The organisers list five objectives for the session:

The regulatory landscape

An overview of how virtual assets are regulated in the UAE, and where VARA’s Dubai framework sits within that wider picture.

Licensing under VARA

The licensing requirements, including the compulsory rulebooks and the additional obligations tied to specific activities.

Ongoing compliance

The continuing duties of licensed firms, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) and sanctions requirements for VASPs.

Marketing and promotion

How the rules apply to marketing and promoting virtual assets, an area VARA regulated early with its 2022 Marketing Regulations.

Enforcement and market entry

Recent enforcement trends and the key considerations for companies entering or expanding in the UAE market.

Enforcement in Practice

The session’s focus on enforcement reflects how active VARA has become. Its public enforcement register lists fines issued in August 2024 and January 2025 against several DMCC-registered entities for carrying out unlicensed virtual asset activity and for marketing breaches, and in October 2024 it issued a market-wide public warning against dealing with unlicensed firms. On 7 October 2025, VARA announced financial penalties against 19 more firms for unlicensed activity and breaches of its Marketing Regulations, directing all of them to stop operating and stop promoting their services immediately.

For companies serving customers in Dubai, those cases show that both licensing and marketing are enforced, which is why the webinar treats them together.

The Speaker: Abdus Samad of Afridi & Angell

The session is led by Abdus Samad, a Partner at Afridi & Angell, who advises on a broad range of regulatory, fintech and cryptocurrency matters. He has co-authored the firm’s client alerts on VARA’s framework, including its analysis of VARA’s full market product regulations and the activity-specific rulebooks, so the webinar draws on direct work with the rules being discussed. Afridi & Angell has previously run UAE employment law webinars with Dubai Chambers as part of the same business programme.

Who Should Join

The webinar is most useful for founders and senior teams at crypto, Web3 and fintech businesses operating in the UAE or planning to move there. Legal, compliance and risk professionals will find the focus on rulebooks, AML/CFT and sanctions especially relevant, and advisers and investors who need to understand the regulatory position of the companies they work with will also benefit. Because it is online, overseas companies weighing up a licence in Dubai can join as easily as local teams.

Registration is through the Dubai Chambers event page linked from this listing, and the Zoom joining details are sent after registration. Bringing questions about your own licensing or compliance situation makes the most of the 90 minutes.

Dubai Chambers also runs in-person sessions, including the Employment Law Workshop on 3 November. For more professional events, see our business and networking page and our workshops listings, or browse things to do in Dubai and things to do in November.