Dubai, 25 Aug 2022: The world's only independent regulator for Virtual Assets (VA), Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), has launched operations for its customised licensing regime this month. With the commencement of its Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Phase, VARA has today announced Regulatory Guidelines on Marketing, Advertising and Promotions of VA across the Emirate of Dubai.
Guidance reflects VARA’s objective to provide a progressive framework that can enable borderless economic opportunity, without compromising market security, across the global Virtual Assets industry. As part of its commitment to nurturing responsible industry participation, these regulations specifically address marketing and communications activities, ahead of operationalising the MVP licensees so that any mass-market information dissemination, and consumer solicitation are designed to safeguard community interests.
Regulations on Marketing, Advertising and Promotions of Virtual Assets cover all forms of outreach, communications and advertising, including publication of information, awareness building, customer engagement, and/or investor solicitation. [i] VARA rules extend to VA related communications by any entity leveraging Dubai-based media sites, search platforms, and online or off-line publishing channels that explicitly target customers within the Dubai market, establishing guardrails on permissible audience segments, in addition to content obligations; [ii] Equally all content dissemination channels operating from Dubai are obligated to act responsibly, and ensure compliance with prevailing Guidance as it pertains to VA communications facilitated via their platforms; [iii] Guidelines further detail the obligations of Dubai licensed VASPs and any advertising platforms that are positioning VA content across traditional and new-age media channels for the Dubai market, to ensure factual accuracy, explicitly demonstrate any promotional intent, and in no way mislead on the guaranteed nature of their returns. The principles are supplemented by rigid enforcement standards and penalties for non-compliance that collectively provide market confidence ahead of MVP operations, as it augments marketing, data protection and consumer protection laws that have been well embedded across the UAE.
This marks a next step in global VA ecosystem innovation, targeting safe market adoption, and encouraging credible industry participation to drive sustainability of Virtual Assets as an anchor in the future economy.
About VARA
Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] is the world's first specialised regulator for the Virtual Assets sector. Established in March 2022, following the effect of Law No.4 of 2022, VARA is responsible by decree for licensing and regulating the Virtual Asset sector in the Emirate of Dubai and its free zone territories [excluding DIFC], and oversees all licensing requirements and applications for authorisation of Virtual Asset activities under UAE law. VARA plays a central role in creating Dubai's advanced legal framework to protect investors and establish international standards for Virtual Asset industry governance, while supporting the vision for a borderless economy.
This market notice is being issued by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) to highlight to all industry stakeholders, and consumers that the deadline for VA sector entities to engage in the regulatory licence application process has now elapsed. As formally announced on 05.November further to multiple advisories since Q2-2023, entities operating within the virtual asset domain were required to commence procedural engagement with VARA on/or before 17.November.2023.