OKX Begins Operations in the UAE After Receiving Full License from VARA

TL;DR

• The crypto exchange OKX officially commenced operations in the UAE months after receiving a full license from VARA.

• OKX is targeting both retail and institutional investors in the country.

OKX Now Live in the UAE

OKX, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the United Arab Emirates, eight months after obtaining its license from the VARA. The crypto exchange offers a dirham (AED)-denominated order book and integration with a local bank to attract retail and institutional clients in the country.

Rifad Mahasneh, the exchange's general manager for the Middle East, pointed out that OKX has a full VARA license and can offer local investors access to the crypto market without involving a broker who buys liquidity from outside the UAE. This eliminates the extra cost and ensures that local investors gain access to these services with less friction. Mahasneh added that,

"We have two targets – to be the retail app of choice and market and to start converting institutions in the UAE to enter the space. The return on investment is going to come from our ability to convert traditional institutions."

OKX seeks to attract local investors into the crypto space by granting them access to a regulated derivatives product, a local currency product, and local banking channels. The crypto exchange has chosen Zand Bank as its local banking partner.

According to Mahasneh, OKX is the first major exchange to go live with the combination of "an AED banking integration and an AED order book," as well as retail and institutional availability. It is also the first crypto exchange to offer 280 tokens and 400 trading pairs in the region.

According to VARA's public register, OKX's license was issued on Sept. 17. While explaining this, Mahasneh said,

"While that's VARA reflecting it's confident of you as a firm to operate in this space, the license comes with certain conditions that you need to complete before you go live. We wanted to test the product too. The entire process took 24 months from start to finish."

This latest development also comes a month after OKX received a full license in Singapore, allowing it to offer digital payment tokens and cross-border money transfer services.