Flowdesk secures full broker-dealer license in Dubai

Flowdesk has secured a full broker-dealer license in Dubai, allowing its local entity to provide regulated crypto services to qualified and institutional investors in and from the emirate.

Flowdesk completes Dubai’s licensing process

Flowdesk said Tuesday that the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority had granted the full license to Flowdesk Omega FZE, its Dubai-based entity.

The authorization permits the company to conduct regulated broker-dealer activities for qualified and institutional investors located in Dubai or accessing its services from the emirate. Flowdesk did not say that the approval includes services for general retail customers.

Issued after the company received in-principle approval in June, the license completes VARA’s multi-stage application process. An in-principle approval allows an applicant to prepare its operations and meet outstanding requirements, but it does not provide the same authority as a full operating license.

Flowdesk described itself as a liquidity provider and virtual asset trading technology company serving token issuers and institutional market participants. Its services include trading infrastructure and liquidity management across centralized and decentralized crypto markets.

Guilhem Chaumont, co-founder and CEO of Flowdesk Group, said the company had invested in its governance, compliance systems, risk controls, and institutional trading infrastructure during the licensing process.

“This license allows us to bring that same rigor to how we serve institutional and qualified clients in the region,” Chaumont said.

According to VARA’s public licensing register, the regulator lists companies that hold full virtual asset licenses as well as applicants that have received in-principle approval. Entries identify the activities each company is permitted to conduct, preventing an approval for one service from being treated as permission to offer every type of crypto product.

Dubai license targets institutional crypto trading

Flowdesk’s authorization covers broker-dealer services, one of several activity categories regulated separately under Dubai’s virtual asset rules. VARA also oversees exchange, custody, lending, borrowing, transfer, settlement, investment, and management services through activity-specific requirements.

For institutional clients, a regulated broker-dealer can execute trades, arrange transactions, and source liquidity within the boundaries of its license. The exact services available to a client remain subject to VARA’s rulebooks, the company’s operating terms, and the investor classifications stated in the approval.

Dubai has placed particular controls around products offered to professional market participants. In March, crypto.news reported that VARA had introduced a crypto derivatives framework covering client suitability, leverage, margin, asset segregation, disclosures, and risk management.

Under that framework, VARA can intervene during market stress or suspected misconduct by suspending products, raising margin requirements, ordering liquidations, or requiring stronger controls. The derivatives provisions apply to licensed providers offering exchange services and do not automatically expand the permissions granted under Flowdesk’s broker-dealer authorization.

Other crypto companies have also sought access to Dubai’s institutional market. In May, Kraken’s parent company, Payward, received preliminary VARA approval for broker-dealer, investment, and management services.

Kraken said its planned UAE offering would include dirham funding, over-the-counter trading, margin products, and Kraken Prime access, although the May approval still required the company to complete VARA’s remaining conditions before a full rollout.

Bitpanda obtained a Dubai broker-dealer license in March 2025, giving the company permission to offer its digital asset platform to investors in the UAE. Earlier approvals for Crypto.com, Binance, and BitOasis also covered selected activities rather than providing unrestricted permission across every virtual asset service.

Flowdesk adds Dubai approval after MiCA authorization

The Dubai license follows a separate authorization for Flowdesk Europe under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.

France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers granted Flowdesk Europe Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorization in June. Effective from June 30, the approval allows the French entity to provide regulated crypto services across eligible EU markets through MiCA’s passporting system.

Flowdesk Europe operates under registration number A2026-022, according to the company’s announcement. The authorization was built on its previous status as a digital asset service provider registered with the French regulator.

MiCA created common requirements for crypto service providers across the EU, replacing a system in which national registrations did not always permit cross-border operations. Authorized companies must comply with rules covering governance, capital, client asset protection, disclosures, and complaint handling, depending on the services they offer.

Flowdesk’s Dubai and European permissions apply to separate legal entities and regulatory systems. Flowdesk Europe’s MiCA authorization does not grant operating rights in Dubai, while Flowdesk Omega’s VARA license does not provide access to EU customers under MiCA.

The company has received financial backing from investors, including Coinbase Ventures. Funds managed by BlackRock also provided debt financing as part of a funding package that Flowdesk announced alongside an extension from HV Capital.

U.S. broker-dealer rules follow a separate system

For U.S. readers, Flowdesk’s VARA approval does not authorize the company to operate as an American securities broker-dealer or offer regulated brokerage services to U.S. customers.

Broker-dealers conducting securities business in the United States generally register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and become members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, subject to the activities covered by their registration.

Wintermute followed that route on Aug. 6 when its U.S. affiliate registered with the SEC and FINRA. As crypto.news previously reported, Wintermute USA may trade equities and equity options, act as an authorized participant for exchange-traded products, and self-clear digital asset securities transactions.

Wintermute’s registration is limited to proprietary trading, meaning the entity trades for its own account instead of providing brokerage services to retail or institutional customers. Flowdesk’s Dubai permission has a different scope because VARA specifically authorized services for qualified and institutional investors in and from Dubai.

The SEC has also placed digital asset broker-dealer requirements on its 2026 regulatory agenda. In July, the agency listed possible amendments involving net capital, customer protection, recordkeeping, and financial responsibility requirements as they apply to crypto assets.

The three proposed rulemaking projects also cover crypto offerings and the trading of digital assets through national securities exchanges and alternative trading systems. The SEC had not adopted those proposals as final rules when it added them to the agenda.