Dubai’s regulator announced it had issued financial penalties against 19 companies related to digital asset activities amid approval for BitGo’s MENA entity.
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Digital asset infrastructure company BitGo said it had secured regulatory approval to offer specific services in Dubai amid the agency’s announcement of several enforcement actions.
In a Tuesday notice, BitGo its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) arm had secured a broker-dealer license from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai, allowing the company to provide “regulated digital asset trading and intermediation services to institutional clients.”
The move came just a few weeks after BitGo said its European subsidiary could offer crypto services to local investors under a license from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.
“This approval allows us to serve institutional clients with greater scale, confidence, and integrity, while also underscoring the accelerating momentum within Dubai’s digital asset ecosystem,” said Ben Choy, general manager of BitGo MENA.
The notice of the licensing approval came less than 24 hours after VARA it had issued financial penalties against 19 companies for “unlicensed Virtual Asset activities and “breaches of VARA’s Marketing Regulations.” VARA’s enforcement actions filed in 2025 included those against the TON DLT Foundation and Hokk Finance.
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Many crypto companies have made efforts to offer their products and services in Dubai as the market grows. VARA, established under Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2022, oversees the enforcement of digital assets in the Emirate’s special development and free zones.
In September, BitGo with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), setting the groundwork for going public. The US company reported more than $90 billion in assets as of June 30.
The moves toward regulation in the EU and the Middle East, as well as its advances in US markets, represented a significant shift in BitGo’s activities in recent years. In 2020, the company for about $100,000 over allegations it had not done its due diligence in blocking wallets connected to sanctioned countries.
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