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Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and Mastercard have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore support for founders and emerging businesses in the virtual assets sector, including opportunities for experimentation through regulatory sandboxes. The agreement was announced on 10 November at Dubai Future Finance Week
The coverage of the announcement gives no sandbox name, eligibility rules, duration or start date, and no product launch.
What the MoU covers
The two parties will explore initiatives for founders and emerging businesses, deepen industry engagement, encourage knowledge sharing and look at ways to support new technologies and market participants which cites the Emirates News Agency (WAM). The agreement is described as part of the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33.
Matthew White, VARA’s chief executive, said: “Dubai’s ambition is not simply to participate in the future of finance, but to help shape it”.
Gina Petersen-Skyrme, Mastercard’s senior vice president and country manager for the UAE and Oman, said realising the potential of digital assets depends on clear regulatory frameworks, reliable infrastructure and close cooperation across the industry.
Mastercard’s stablecoin work
Coverage ties Mastercard’s side to its work on stablecoin and digital value infrastructure. Mastercard agreed in March to buy stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, and completed the purchase in early August, according to Mastercard’s investor release and The Block. The reports of the MoU do not describe a stablecoin programme under it.
FAQs
What did VARA and Mastercard sign?
A memorandum of understanding to explore support for virtual asset founders and emerging businesses, including through regulatory sandboxes, industry engagement and knowledge sharing.
Is there a sandbox founders can apply to?
Not yet. The MoU is an agreement to explore. The coverage doesn’t say when a sandbox would open, who would qualify or what it would test.
What is a regulatory sandbox?
A controlled setting in which a company can test a new product with a regulator’s oversight, under agreed limits, before a full licence.
Editor’s Take: An MoU of this kind commits the parties to explore, and nothing in the coverage commits either to a date. For a founder, the route into the regulated market today is the licence process. VARA’s public register lists 61 licensed providers and 24 holding in-principle approval, and applicants with an in-principle approval cannot start operating until the full licence is granted. The detail to watch is whether VARA or Mastercard publishes the terms: who is eligible, what can be tested, for how long and with which Mastercard products.