Dubai Regulator Wants to Lower the Cost of Compliance for Small Crypto Firms

• Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority is investigating ways to lower the cost for firms to comply with its rules.
• Dubai unveiled a regulatory regime for crypto last year.

The head of Dubai's virtual assets regulator said he wants to find ways to lower the cost for small crypto firms.

"There's a number of things that I'm looking at the moment in order to try and make the regime and the regulation fit for everybody," Matthew White, CEO of Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), said at Paris Blockchain Week on Wednesday. "What one of those is, is figuring out a way to deal with the cost of compliance for smaller entities."

VARA is the sole digital assets regulator in the emirate, one of seven that make up the United Arab Emirates. Dubai unveiled its rules for crypto last year, which the crypto industry generally welcomed. Some firms, however, worried the costs would be expensive.

The rules set out that firms need to get authorized to operate in the country. Companies like crypto exchanges Crypto.com, Deribit's Dubai-based unit and crypto hedge fund Nine Blocks have since secured licenses to operate.

"Not many people have the resources to be able to go and get regulated and that is something that we've seen, so we're looking at structures whereby we can have larger market participants hosting smaller ones, for example," White said.