Crypto.com has become the first platform in the UAE to be granted the Stored Value Facilities (SVF) licence which will enable residents to pay in crypto for government services like Visa renewals, trade licences, permits, fines, and parking among others.
This is the first SVF licence granted to a crypto firm by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). It essentially bids to advance the country’s plans of building a cashless financial ecosystem.
“To be the first VASP to receive this license is an incredible achievement and proves our strong commitment to compliance and to advancing the regulated digital assets ecosystem in the UAE,” said Eric Anziani, President and COO of Crypto.com, calling the UAE a forward thinking and digital savy market.
The development has positioned Crypto.com’s UAE entity, Foris DAX Middle East FZE, as an active partner with the Dubai Department of Finance. Moving forward, the exchange will be allowed to open crypto payment routes for other services like the Emirates Airlines as well as the Duty Free stores located within the UAE airports.
Crypto.com is a Singapore-headquartered company. The exchange expanded in Dubai back in 2024 after receiving the required licence from the Emirate’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
Now with the SVF licence, the exchange has established itself as the only crypto platform that can facilitate government service fees in the UAE via crypto. Users of the exchange can tap into this facility and process service fees to the UAE authorities.
“We are now able to offer what no other digital asset platform can, by providing exclusive digital asset payment services for Dubai Government fees to residents in the UAE,” said Mohammed Al Hakim, President and GM, UAE & Bahrain, Crypto.com.
The UAE government had first started discussions with Crypto.com to process these government payment services in May 2025. An agreement on the same was reached through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed at the time. This MoU is only being materialized and activated now.
Over the last few years, the UAE has emerged among the most crypto-ready and regulated markets in the world. Between 2023 and 2024, the country had reportedly roped-in over $34 billion in crypto inflows, having clocked a 42 percent YoY growth in crypto activity.
Last year, more buusinesses in the UAE also opened doors to crypto payments, expanding their payment alternatives for large-scale buyers and customers visiting the UAE as tourists from around the world. Abu Dhabi-based yacht-maker the Gulf Craft, for instance, had started accepting crypto as a form of payment.
Given the visible growth in crypto adoption, the UAE government is taking a proactive approach in advancing its regulatory approach around the digital assets sector.
Earlier in April, UAE’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has released its Virtual Assets Framework. These guidelines have been designed in alignment with standards set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The rules lays out the ground rules around the conduct of business, anti-money laundering (AML), and counter terror financing (CTF) for the crypto ecosystem.
Crypto giants like Binance, ByBit, OKX, and eToro have, in recent years, expanded their services and operations in the UAE, owing to its pro-crypto approach.