Crypto custodian Komainu has received a minimal viable product (MVP) licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), following its receipt of a provisional approval in July 2022.

The MVP licence allows Komainu, which specialises in institutional digital asset custody services, to offer institutional clients in the UAE virtual asset custodial and management services.

Komainu is a hybrid custodian for institutional digital asset investors created by the Japanese investment bank Nomura, digital asset manager CoinShares and digital asset security company Ledger.

VARA was established under the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law earlier this year. The regulator has also awarded Binance with a MVP license, as well as Crypto.com and Q9 provisional licenses.

“VARA is pleased to onboard our first tradFi VASP Komainu to join the MVP phase of the regulatory regime,”

said His Excellency Helal Saeed Al-Marri, Chairman of VARA.

“With the full MVP licence now granted by VARA, we look forward to launching our services in the MEA region,”

said Nicolas Bertrand, CEO of Komainu.