Dubai Tightens the Rules While Welcoming the Players: Animoca Brands Wins Key License in Strategic Middle East Push

Animoca Brands has secured a pivotal regulatory milestone in Dubai, underscoring the emirate’s dual ambition: to tighten oversight while cementing its status as a global hub for institutional crypto finance. The Hong Kong-founded Web3 investor announced it had obtained a Virtual Asset Service Provider license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, granting it the right to offer broker-dealer services and investment management to institutional and qualified investors in and from Dubai, excluding the Dubai International Financial Centre.

The approval, recorded by the regulator on February 5, represents more than a bureaucratic formality. It positions Animoca Brands within a compliance-driven ecosystem that Dubai has carefully cultivated since establishing VARA in March 2022. The authority was created to regulate and oversee the provision, use and exchange of digital assets across the emirate’s mainland and free zones, and has since sought to differentiate Dubai from less structured crypto jurisdictions by emphasizing transparency and institutional safeguards.

For Animoca, whose portfolio spans more than 600 companies and digital asset initiatives, the license is a strategic lever. Omar Elassar, the company’s managing director for the Middle East and head of global strategic partnerships, said the authorization “enhances the company’s ability to engage with Web3 foundations and global institutional investors within a well-regulated framework.” In practice, this allows the firm to deepen relationships with capital allocators seeking exposure to blockchain ventures under clear supervisory rules.

The move aligns with Animoca’s broader expansion strategy in the region. The company develops blockchain platforms and supports ecosystems such as The Sandbox, Open Campus and Moca Network, while continuing to back early-stage Web3 projects. Its January acquisition of gaming and digital collectibles company Somo added playable and tradable blockchain-based assets to its growing infrastructure and content portfolio, reinforcing its long-term bet on digital ownership and tokenized economies.

Dubai’s regulatory posture, however, is not merely permissive. The license arrives weeks after the Dubai Financial Services Authority, which governs the DIFC free zone, prohibited licensed exchanges and financial institutions from facilitating privacy-focused tokens such as Monero and Zcash, citing Anti-Money Laundering and sanctions compliance risks. The updated framework also restricts the use of privacy-enhancing tools that obscure transaction details and narrows the definition of fiat crypto tokens to those backed by high-quality liquid assets.

This calibrated approach—welcoming innovation while tightening compliance—has attracted a growing roster of crypto firms. Digital asset infrastructure company BitGo, for instance, secured its own broker-dealer license from VARA in October 2025 to serve institutional clients across the Middle East and North Africa.

Yat Siu, Animoca’s co-founder and executive chairman, described Dubai and the UAE as “among the most forward-looking and supportive jurisdictions for cryptocurrency broadly,” praising VARA’s leadership in facilitating regulated operations. His endorsement reflects a broader industry calculation: that credible regulation, rather than unchecked freedom, may offer the most durable path for digital asset markets seeking mainstream capital.

In a sector often defined by volatility and regulatory uncertainty, Dubai is attempting to script a different narrative—one in which global crypto firms operate not on the margins, but squarely within the rulebook. Animoca’s new license suggests that for institutional Web3 players, the Middle East is no longer a peripheral market but an emerging center of gravity.