Caladan Secures VARA Approval for Dubai Broker-Dealer Operations
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has granted in-principle approval to Caladan’s local entity, CLDN Broker Dealer FZE, to provide brokerage services to institutional clients. The milestone marks a shift for the Asian market maker as it expands its regulated footprint into the Middle East’s digital asset hub.
The approval, issued September 15, 2026, allows the firm to move toward full licensing for institutional-grade trading services. While this initial authorization represents a significant regulatory step, the firm remains restricted from providing services in or from the Emirate until it secures a full license from the authority. If granted, the firm will focus exclusively on institutional participants rather than retail investors.
President and Co-Founder Julia Zhou highlighted the clarity of the local framework as a primary driver for the expansion. The group, which maintains a $170 billion annual trading volume, plans to leverage this status to meet rising demand for aggregated liquidity. By integrating into the Dubai ecosystem, Caladan aims to provide a regulated counterparty for capital-intensive digital asset strategies, utilizing its existing API infrastructure that supports sub-10ms latency across 40 global exchanges.
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