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Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Securitize, a NYSE-listed tokenization platform backed by BlackRock, on 3 September 2026. The agreement sets up a collaborative framework covering ecosystem development, regulatory engagement, talent attraction, market education and data-driven research, aimed at building out regulated tokenized markets in Dubai. It is the latest step in a cryptocurrency UAE regulatory push that has already produced one live tokenization product moving toward launch under VARA’s own rulebook.
Securitize shares (SECZ) rose 9.06% on the day the deal was announced, according to StockTitan’s market data on the filing. Neither party named a specific product, financial commitment or launch date tied to the MoU itself.
What the agreement covers
An MoU is not a licence, a rule change or a binding technology mandate. It is a cooperation agreement between a regulator and a private company. VARA and Securitize describe five areas of focus: ecosystem development, regulatory engagement, talent attraction, market education and data-driven research into how tokenized financial products should operate under Dubai’s existing legal framework.
Carlos Domingo, co-founder and chief executive of Securitize, said,
“Dubai has established itself as one of the world’s most forward-looking jurisdictions for digital asset innovation,” and framed “the deal as part of tokenization’s shift from experimentation to an era where it is becoming a part of financial infrastructure.”
Matthew White, VARA’s chief executive, is reported across multiple outlets as saying Dubai’s aim is for the future of financial markets to be shaped by regulatory frameworks and market infrastructure that give institutions the confidence to adopt new technologies. The exact wording of his statement varied slightly between the outlets that reported it, so it is paraphrased here rather than quoted directly.
Securitize describes roughly $4.9 billion in tokenized assets under management as of August 2026, a figure the company discloses itself rather than one verified independently or by VARA.
Who Securitize is, and why VARA picked it
Securitize went public on the NYSE in July 2026 through a SPAC merger and already runs some of the largest names in institutional tokenization: BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and Hamilton Lane’s HLSCOPE product both run on its platform, alongside a FINRA broker-dealer approval for custodying tokenized securities in the US.
It is not Securitize’s first work with VARA. On 23 June 2026, Atlas Capital Team Inc., the company behind economist Nouriel Roubini’s first venture into blockchain, announced it would use Securitize to tokenize USAFi, a digital security backed by its SEC-registered Atlas America Fund (Nasdaq: USAF). USAFi is set to launch under VARA’s Asset Referenced Virtual Asset (ARVA) Rulebook, the regulator’s framework for tokens backed by real-world assets, with reserve assets held in custody at Bank of New York. Atlas targeted a third-quarter 2026 launch, a window that closes at the end of this month.
Roubini, long known as a crypto skeptic, said in the announcement: “For years I argued that most digital assets offered no protection from this, because they had no real assets behind them. What Atlas has built is different.”
Reza Bundy, chief executive and chairman of Atlas Capital Team, described the product as “built to preserve” value rather than simply move it. (Source: StockTitan’s wire republication of the announcement, 23 June 2026.)
That existing relationship is the concrete part of this story. The MoU signed in September formalizes and broadens cooperation between VARA and a platform it had already worked with on a named, dated, regulator-approved product.
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What this doesn’t change for VARA-licensed firms already operating here
Dubai already requires a VARA Virtual Asset Service Provider licence for anyone conducting virtual asset activity in or from Dubai, outside the DIFC. Tokenizing a real-world asset like property or equity is treated as an Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset issuance, a Category 1 activity requiring its own licence and an approved whitepaper. None of that changes because of this MoU.
Tribe Tokenisation FZE, a VARA-licensed broker-dealer that tokenizes Dubai real estate on the XRP Ledger, is a case in point. Tribe holds its own full broker-dealer licence (VL/26/06/002) and runs its own infrastructure independent of Securitize. A firm’s obligations come from VARA’s rulebook, which regulates activities, not from which vendor’s technology it happens to run on.
| Path via Securitize (Atlas Capital / USAFi) | Independent path (Tribe Tokenisation) | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence type | ARVA Rulebook issuance | Full broker-dealer licence (VL/26/06/002) |
| Asset tokenized | SEC-registered ETF (Atlas America Fund) | Structured real estate |
| Technology | Securitize platform | Ripple / XRP Ledger, built in-house |
| Status as of September 2026 | Targeting Q3 2026 launch | Live, operating since June 2026 |
Why this matters beyond one MoU
For the broader market, this is Dubai signaling which kind of institutional partner it wants shaping the next stage of its tokenization rulebook, at a time when the emirate is competing with Singapore, Switzerland and Hong Kong for the same institutional tokenization business. A regulator that already has one dated, real product running under its own rules, and now a formal cooperation channel with that product’s technology provider, has a stronger pitch to the next institutional issuer weighing where to tokenize than a regulator working from theory alone.
For institutional investors and asset managers specifically, the near-term effect is limited: no new product has launched, no new rule has been written, and the MoU carries no financial commitment. The real signal is where VARA’s own rulemaking attention is going next, since the regulatory engagement and data-driven research areas of this MoU suggest Securitize’s institutional experience will feed into future guidance, not just marketing.
What’s next
The nearer-term thing to watch is not the MoU itself but Atlas Capital’s USAFi, which is still targeting a launch before the end of Q3 2026. If it ships on schedule, it becomes the first product to test VARA’s ARVA Rulebook against an SEC-registered ETF at scale, and it will say more about how this partnership works in practice than the MoU text does on its own. Beyond that, the open question is whether VARA turns any of the five cooperation areas in this MoU into an actual rule change, or whether it stays a relationship-building exercise that produces individual deals like USAFi rather than new binding requirements.
FAQ
What is an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) in financial regulation?
An MoU is a formal statement of intent to cooperate. It is not legally binding in the way a licence or a rule is, and it does not by itself create new legal obligations for anyone outside the two parties who sign it.
What is VARA’s Asset Referenced Virtual Asset (ARVA) Rulebook?
It is VARA’s regulatory framework specifically for tokens that represent a claim on a real-world asset, such as property, a fund, or another financial instrument, as opposed to a token with no underlying asset behind it.
Is a VARA licence required to tokenize assets in Dubai?
Yes. Any entity conducting virtual asset activity in or from Dubai, outside the DIFC, needs a VARA Virtual Asset Service Provider licence, and tokenizing a real-world asset specifically requires a Category 1 ARVA issuance with an approved whitepaper.
What is real-world asset (RWA) tokenization?
It is the process of representing ownership of a physical or financial asset, such as real estate, a fund, or a bond, as a digital token on a blockchain, so it can be transferred, traded or fractionally owned on-chain.
Who regulates virtual assets in the UAE besides VARA?
VARA covers Dubai’s mainland and free zones (excluding the DIFC). The DIFC falls under the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Abu Dhabi Global Market falls under the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), and payment tokens and stablecoin activity fall under the Central Bank of the UAE.
Editor’s Take: Atlas Capital’s USAFi was already announced in June, already has a launch window, and already runs on VARA’s own ARVA Rulebook. Most regulatory MoUs in this space announce intent with nothing to point to; this one has a dated product behind it, even if that product predates the formal agreement. Worth watching whether USAFi ships this quarter, whether a second, unrelated issuer picks Securitize’s rails next, and whether Dubai’s cryptocurrency UAE market keeps growing through the kind of multi-vendor competition Tribe represents, or starts to consolidate around one platform.