Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and Securitize, the BlackRock-backed tokenization platform, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on September 3 to advance regulated tokenized markets in the United Arab Emirates. The announcement was confirmed in a joint statement, but the parties made clear that the MoU is a cooperation framework rather than a product license, clearance, or binding deployment timetable.
Under the agreement, VARA and Securitize plan to work through knowledge sharing, ecosystem development, data-led research, market education, talent attraction, and regulatory engagement. The stated objective is to give licensed market participants access to Securitize’s institutional tokenization experience while maintaining standards for market integrity and investor protection under Dubai’s framework. No specific asset, issuer, fund, or financial institution was named as part of the initial arrangement.
VARA CEO Matthew White said regulatory frameworks and market infrastructure are needed to give institutions confidence to adopt new technology. Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo described Dubai as one of the most forward-thinking jurisdictions for digital asset innovation and stressed the importance of working with regulators as tokenization moves from theory to conventional financial infrastructure.
Securitize disclosed approximately $5 billion in tokenized assets under management as of August 2026, while RWA.xyz data cited in coverage showed the broader tokenized asset market grew 2% over 30 days to $38.5 billion, with holder numbers rising 103% to 3.2 million. The same reporting said Securitize led the market with $4.9 billion in tokenized assets under management, followed by Ondo Finance with $3.5 billion. Any resulting products from the Dubai collaboration would still need to satisfy applicable regulatory and licensing requirements.
