PANews reported on May 21 that, according to Business Wire, Kraken's parent company, Payward, has received preliminary approval from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai, UAE, for brokerage, proprietary trading, investment, and management licenses. It plans to offer spot, leveraged, and OTC trading, staking, and Kraken Prime services for institutions in the UAE through its local subsidiary. Local users will be able to deposit and withdraw funds using UAE AED and directly access Kraken's global order book and liquidity.