RWA LEGAL
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Jurisdiction profile

VARA (Dubai): tokenization regime, cost and constraints

Virtual asset activities, including asset-referenced virtual assets. Fits when: real-estate-linked virtual assets with a dubai nexus. The constraint to plan around: published fee figures conflict across sources by an order of magnitude — see /cost/.

Last verified 22 July 2026

VARA governs virtual-asset activity in Dubai outside the DIFC, and it moved early on asset-referenced virtual assets, licensing its first ARVA issuer in 2025. For real-estate-linked tokens with a Dubai nexus this is the relevant perimeter, and the Dubai Land Department's own tokenisation work has made it the most visible one.

It is also where the published cost evidence is least trustworthy. Three sources give three incompatible pictures of year-one cost, and the highest of them is roughly an order of magnitude above the official fee schedule — most likely because it folds paid-up capital into "cost" without saying so. VARA has itself publicly warned about firms falsely claiming to take part in its real-estate pilot. Check the licence reference against the regulator's register before relying on anyone's claim, including a claim about cost.

At a glance

Legal perimeterDubai, outside DIFC
RegulatorVARA
Governing lawVARA rulebooks; ARVA category
What is licensedVirtual asset activities, including asset-referenced virtual assets
Fits whenReal-estate-linked virtual assets with a Dubai nexus
Binding constraintPublished fee figures conflict across sources by an order of magnitude — see /cost/
Indicative timelineVariable; depends on the activity category applied for
Last verified2026-07-22

Who this regime is for

A real-estate-linked virtual asset with a Dubai nexus, outside the DIFC.

Published cost evidence

9 published figures in our dataset are attributed to this jurisdiction. Each carries its own source, currency, cadence and date. Most public pricing in this market comes from providers selling the service they are pricing — the "Sells this?" column says which. Nothing here is averaged.

ProviderComponentRangeCadenceSource dateSells this?As publishedSource
Cryptoverse Lawyers licence govt fee AED 40,000 one_time not stated yes AED 40,000 application fee AED 80,000 annual supervision fee view
Cryptoverse Lawyers licence govt fee AED 100,000 one_time not stated yes AED 100,000 application fee AED 200,000 annual supervision fee view
Cryptoverse Lawyers ongoing compliance AED 80,000–AED 200,000 annual not stated yes annual supervision fee AED 80,000-200,000 view
Consulting24 licence application $10,000–$30,000 one_time 2026-06-13 yes VARA application fee 10,000-30,000 view
Consulting24 licence govt fee $50,000–$150,000 one_time 2026-06-13 yes Category license fee 50,000-150,000 view
Consulting24 legal structuring $30,000–$100,000 one_time 2026-06-13 yes Advisory & legal fees 30,000-100,000 view
Consulting24 TOTAL $100,000–$330,000 one_time 2026-06-13 yes Total range 100,000-330,000 view
Consulting24 ongoing compliance $50,000 annual 2026-06-13 yes Ongoing compliance typically costs USD 50,000+ per year view
OmiSoft licence application AED 2,100,000 one_time 2026-07-03 yes UAE Dubai VARA AED 2.1 million ~$570,000 first-year view

Read these as evidence of what is claimed, not as a quote. See the full cost index for how components are normalised and where sources contradict each other, and how to use these numbers before you ask anyone for a price.

What changed recently

VARA licensed its first asset-referenced virtual asset issuer in 2025 and has publicly warned about firms falsely claiming to be in its real-estate pilot.

Before you rely on this

This page is reference material, not legal advice, and a regime that changed after 22 July 2026 may no longer match what is above. Verify against the regulator's own material and check any claimed licence against the official register — in a market moving this fast, a claimed regulatory status is not a confirmed one.

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