Triple-A has secured a VARA in-principle approval (IPA) for broker-dealer services from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, the company said, moving it into the final stage of VARA’s licensing process ahead of a full license.
Key highlights
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | Triple-A |
| Approval type | In-principle approval (IPA), broker-dealer services |
| Regulator | Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Dubai |
| Existing licenses | Singapore (MAS, Major Payment Institution); EU (ACPR payment institution, AMF crypto-asset service provider under MiCA); US (FinCEN MSB, money transmitter licenses in 20+ states); Canada (FINTRAC) |
| Prior Middle East activity | Stablecoin travel-payments partnership with Wego, announced May 19, 2026 |
| Same-day approval | Revolut also received a VARA in-principle approval on July 15, 2026, for broker-dealer, exchange, management and investment services |
What the VARA approval covers, and what it doesn’t yet
An IPA is not a license to operate. Under VARA’s own public register criteria, an in-principle approval holder is barred from starting operations, running any virtual asset activity, or servicing clients until the full VASP license is issued.
Triple-A now enters what the company describes as a defined window to close remaining post-IPA conditions, with its licensing assessment still ongoing. As of this approval, Triple-A does not yet appear in VARA’s public register of active, fully licensed virtual asset service providers, which lists 51 entities.
Triple-A already holds licenses elsewhere: a Major Payment Institution license from Singapore’s MAS, a payment institution license from France’s ACPR plus a crypto-asset service provider registration under the EU’s MiCA framework, FinCEN money-services-business registration, money transmitter licenses across more than 20 US states, and registrations with FINTRAC in Canada. Triple-A’s own site lists 2020 as its incorporation year in Singapore.
Triple-A has raised $14 million to date: a $4 million seed round followed by a $10 million Series A in October 2023, led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia) with participation from Singapore’s 1982 Ventures and Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners. Shorooq’s presence on the cap table is an existing UAE tie that doesn’t come up in Triple-A’s own framing of this approval.
Also, read DDSC dirham stablecoin gets CBUAE approval to go live on VARA-regulated exchanges
Triple-A already has a foothold in the region
This isn’t Triple-A’s first move into the Gulf. In May 2026, it partnered with Wego, which describes itself as the largest online travel marketplace in the Middle East and North Africa, to let travellers pay for flights and hotel bookings in stablecoins.
Wego continues to receive settlements in the standard currency and doesn’t handle digital assets directly, with Triple-A absorbing that layer. Founder and CEO Eric Barbier said at the time that ‘stablecoins were becoming an increasingly practical way for consumers to pay globally, particularly in sectors like travel.” A VARA broker-dealer license would give Triple-A a locally regulated way to conduct that kind of conversion activity from within Dubai rather than through an offshore entity.
VARA cleared a bigger name the same day
Triple-A wasn’t the only company to clear this specific hurdle on July 15, 2026. Revolut also received in-principle approval from VARA, covering broker-dealer, exchange, management, and investment services, building on the stored-value and retail payment licenses it obtained from the UAE Central Bank in June.
Revolut serves more than 75 million customers globally and plans to launch crypto trading through its retail app and a separate exchange, Revolut X. The two approvals aren’t comparable in scale. But the same-day timing shows VARA working through more than one broker-dealer application at once, not making an isolated exception for Triple-A.
Why it matters
For Dubai’s virtual asset market
VARA passed 50 licensed virtual asset service providers in the weeks before this approval, with Tribe Tokenisation taking the 50th slot. License count and active business aren’t the same thing, though: by the end of 2025, only around 39 of the entities VARA had licensed were reported as fully operational. An IPA for Triple-A and Revolut adds to the pipeline of companies working toward a full license. It doesn’t add to the count of firms actually running virtual asset services in Dubai today.
For businesses using Triple-A’s rails
Nothing changes yet for merchants or partners using Triple-A’s existing stablecoin payment tools, including Wego. VARA’s IPA restrictions mean Triple-A can’t offer new broker-dealer services in the UAE until it clears the full license. What the approval signals is intent: a company already doing stablecoin settlement work with a regional partner is now formalising the regulatory path to do more of it locally.
What’s next
Triple-A hasn’t disclosed a timeline for converting the IPA into a full VARA license. It also hasn’t said what its Dubai broker-dealer operation will look like once live, who it plans to serve first, or whether the license will eventually sit under the same setup that handles the Wego partnership. Worth checking back once Triple-A shows up in VARA’s public register with an active license, rather than an approval in progress.
FAQs
What did Triple-A just announce?
Triple-A received a VARA in-principle approval (IPA) for broker-dealer services in Dubai, a step ahead of a full license.
What is a VARA in-principle approval?
It’s a conditional regulatory approval that VARA issues before a full virtual asset service provider (VASP) license. Holders cannot operate, run virtual asset activities, or service clients until the full license is issued.
What is VARA?
VARA is the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, Dubai’s dedicated regulator for virtual asset businesses, and describes itself as the world’s first independent regulator of its kind.
Does Triple-A already do business in the Middle East?
Yes. It partnered with travel platform Wego in May 2026 to offer stablecoin payments for flights and hotel bookings, ahead of this VARA approval.
Did any other company get a similar VARA approval around the same time?
Yes. Revolut received its own VARA in-principle approval for broker-dealer, exchange, management and investment services on the same day, July 15, 2026.
Editor’s take: An IPA is a real regulatory step. What makes this one worth watching what’s already sitting next to it: Triple-A already moved travel-booking payments through Wego two months before this in the UAE. The open question is whether the full VASP license shows up on a similarly practical timeline, or whether Triple-A joins the roughly quarter of VARA’s licensed entities that hold approval without much active business behind it yet.