Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Securitize, the tokenisation platform that already runs BlackRock’s on-chain BUIDL fund, to formalise cooperation on regulated tokenised markets in the emirate. Securitize’s NYSE-listed shares rose 9.06% on the day the deal was announced, 3 September 2026, according to .
The agreement covers five areas: knowledge sharing, ecosystem development, regulatory engagement, talent attraction and market education, and data-driven research into how tokenised financial products should operate under Dubai’s legal framework. Neither party named a specific product, financial commitment or launch date tied to the MoU itself.
Not a licence, and no product attached
A memorandum of understanding is a statement of intent to cooperate, not a licence, a rule change or a binding technology mandate. Dubai already requires a for anyone conducting virtual asset activity in or from the emirate outside the Dubai International Financial Centre, and tokenising a real-world asset is treated as a Category 1 Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset issuance requiring its own licence and an approved whitepaper. None of that changes because of this agreement.
Carlos Domingo, co-founder and chief executive of Securitize, said, “Dubai has established itself as one of the world’s most forward-looking jurisdictions for digital asset innovation.”
Matthew White, VARA’s chief executive, said Dubai’s ambition is for the future of financial markets to be shaped by regulatory frameworks and market infrastructure that give institutions the confidence to adopt new technology, a point reported consistently across multiple outlets, though the precise wording of his remarks varies between them.
An existing relationship, not a first meeting
This is not Securitize’s first work with VARA. On 23 June 2026, it would use Securitize to tokenise USAFi, a digital security backed by its SEC-registered Atlas America Fund, a deal corroborated by as part of Securitize’s existing Dubai track record.
USAFi is set to launch under VARA’s Asset Referenced Virtual Asset rulebook, with reserve assets held in custody at Bank of New York, and Atlas Capital is targeting a third-quarter 2026 launch, a window that closes at the end of this month.
Roubini, long known as a crypto sceptic, said at the time: “For years I argued that most digital assets offered no protection from this, because they had no real assets behind them. What Atlas has built is different.”
A track record beyond Dubai
Securitize went public on the NYSE in July 2026 through a SPAC merger. Its platform already carries BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and Hamilton Lane’s HLSCOPE product, alongside a FINRA broker-dealer approval for custodying tokenised securities in the US, a tokenised fixed-income fund with Neuberger Berman, and tokenised equity distribution through Socios.com. The company reports roughly $5 billion in tokenised assets under management as of August 2026, a figure it discloses itself rather than one independently audited.
Dubai’s tokenisation ambitions are not built exclusively around Securitize, however. Nothing in the VARA-Securitize agreement requires any other licensed provider to adopt Securitize’s technology; obligations under VARA’s rulebook attach to the activity a firm carries out, not to the vendor whose platform it happens to run on.
Atlas Capital’s USAFi remains the nearer-term thing to watch. If it launches on schedule before the end of the third quarter, it becomes the first product to test VARA’s Asset Referenced Virtual Asset rulebook against an SEC-registered fund at scale.
