NeosLegal, the UAE's first crypto-native law firm, has launched the UAE VASP License Tracker 2026, the first public database covering every active virtual asset license in the UAE, across VARA, ADGM/FSRA, DIFC/DFSA, CBUAE and the federal CMA. As of June 2026, the tracker lists 100 firms holding active virtual asset licenses in the UAE, spread across the five regulators. The tracker is free and updated monthly.

Crypto rules are consolidating across Europe. MiCA now applies as a single EU regime, with steep capital and compliance demands. The UK and Switzerland run separate regimes. Founders look to the UAE, where five regulators offer routes one regime cannot.

UAE-based firms also reach the fast-growing markets of Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, home to over four billion people.

European firms are already making the move. Bitpanda, the Vienna platform, holds a VARA broker-dealer license. Zodia Markets, the London brokerage backed by Standard Chartered, is licensed in ADGM. Amsterdam-founded Deribit moved its global headquarters to Dubai.

ADGM introduced the UAE's first virtual asset framework in 2018, and the country has added 14 new licensees so far in 2026. VARA in Dubai holds the largest share, with ADGM/FSRA in Abu Dhabi close behind.

"We are seeing founders arrive from London, Paris, Frankfurt and Zurich who ran out of room at home," said Irina Heaver, UAE CryptoLawyer and Founder of NeosLegal, ranked by Lexology as a Recommended Blockchain Lawyer. "A single regime gives you one option. The UAE gives you five, plus a doorway to the Global South. That is a rare proposition."