Updated weekly · Last update: 9 November 2026 · Regulatory Gate · Data from the ADGM FSRA's website
See all five: UAE regulator tracker
Short answer. The FSRA's latest changes focus on virtual asset firms. It issued a Travel Rule notice on 28 October 2026, and its DeFi risk consultation is open until 30 November 2026. The FSRA public register lists 424 active firms with a Financial Services Permission (FSP) as of 9 November 2026. Twenty-two of them list Virtual Assets as an asset class. Eighty-seven firms received an FSP in 2026.
Latest regulatory updates
Covers 1 August to 9 November 2026. Most recent first.
| Date | Type | Update and who it affects | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Nov 2026 | Public warning | Airo Capitals. The firm (airocapitals.com) falsely claims to be FSRA-regulated. It has never held an FSP. Affects investors. | FSRA alert |
| 3 Nov 2026 | AML notice | High-risk jurisdictions (Notice 216 of 2026). Passes on the National Committee's Decision 37 of 2026 adopting the FATF black and grey lists. All firms, including VASPs, must apply countermeasures and enhanced due diligence. | Notice (PDF) |
| 30 Oct 2026 | Statement | Binance security incident. The FSRA is engaging with Binance after unauthorised withdrawals of assets on 30 October. It is monitoring the incident. | FSRA statement |
| 28 Oct 2026 | AML notice | Travel Rule for virtual assets and fiat-referenced tokens (Notice 206 of 2026). Sets expectations under AML Rulebook section 10.3: Travel Rule governance, transfers missing information, the sunrise issue and unhosted wallets. Applies to Authorised Persons and Recognised Bodies. | Notice (PDF) |
| 28 Oct 2026 | Guidance (ADGM RA) | Crypto mining. The Registration Authority treats crypto mining as a licensable commercial activity, not a regulated financial service. Affects mining operators in or from ADGM. | Announcement |
| 9 Oct 2026 | Consultation | Fees and General Rulebooks (CP 6 of 2026). Proposes new fees for Recognised Bodies and MTF and OTF operators, a supervision fee for securities on the Official List, and a higher late filing fee. Closed 6 November 2026. | Announcement |
| 8 Oct 2026 | Public warning | Takeo Investments. Falsely claimed an association with ADGM. It has never held an FSP. | FSRA alert |
| 6 Oct 2026 | Consultation | DeFi Risk Management Guidance (CP 5 of 2026). Sets expectations for firms that engage with DeFi protocols: governance, due diligence, monitoring, financial crime controls and client asset safeguards. Applies to Authorised Persons and Recognised Bodies. Open until 30 November 2026. | Announcement |
| 30 Sep 2026 | Public warning | E-Community. The site e-community.co falsely claims to be ADGM-based. It offers trading in stocks, crypto and CFDs. | FSRA alert |
| 17 Sep 2026 | Dear SEO letter | Venture Capital Fund Managers. VCFMs become a type of Sub Threshold Fund Manager. They must hold USD 50,000 in Capital Resources. The transition period ends 31 March 2027. | Letter (PDF) |
| 17 Sep 2026 | Dear SEO letter | Foreign Fund Managers. Existing FFMs must appoint an ADGM-based Fund Administrator and an ADGM-licensed Corporate Service Provider by 31 March 2027. | Letter (PDF) |
| 16 Sep 2026 | Rule change | Funds framework finalised. Adds lighter regimes for managers of smaller funds and institutional-only funds. Allows employees to invest in private funds their employer manages. Revises the rules for Foreign Fund Managers. | Announcement |
| 21 Aug 2026 | AML notice | High-risk jurisdictions (Notice 147 of 2026). Passes on the National Committee's Decision 36 of 2026 adopting the FATF black and grey lists. | Notice (PDF) |
| 14 Aug 2026 | MoU | GCGRA. The FSRA agreed cooperation and information exchange with the UAE's federal commercial gaming regulator. | Announcement |
| 10 Aug 2026 | Public warning | Vibrafund FZLLC. The RA and FSRA confirm it is not registered or authorised. It had claimed FSRA authorisation for digital asset trading. | ADGM alert |
Enforcement. The FSRA published no enforcement outcomes between 1 August and 9 November 2026. The latest entries on its Regulatory Actions page are two Decision Notices dated 11 May 2026, both subject to appeal.
Coming up
- 30 November 2026. Comments close on the DeFi Risk Management Guidance (CP 5 of 2026).
- January 2027. Venture Capital Fund Managers move to a new regulatory reporting schedule.
- 31 March 2027. The transition period ends for Venture Capital Fund Managers and Foreign Fund Managers under the new Funds rules. VCFMs report Capital Resources on EPRS from this date.
- Pending. No final rules yet for CP 6 of 2026 (Fees, closed 6 November 2026) or CP 2 of 2026 (Transfer Schemes, closed 21 September 2026). See the consultations page.
Register by category
| Category | Active | All entries |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Firms (FSP holders) | 424 | 510 |
| Recognised Bodies | 3 | 5 |
| Remote Bodies / Remote Members | 58 | 67 |
| RegLab Firms | 0 | 31 |
| Domestic Funds | 237 | 289 |
The register keeps withdrawn firms. Of the 510 Financial Firms, 83 show "Withdrawn" and 3 show "Inactive". Twelve firms were withdrawn in 2026.
The three active Recognised Bodies are ICE Futures Abu Dhabi Limited, Nest Clearing and Custody Limited (recognised 8 December 2025) and Nest Exchange Limited (recognised 5 January 2026).
Active domestic funds: 171 Qualified Investor Funds, 62 Exempt Funds and 4 Public Funds.
Most common regulated activities among active Financial Firms
| Regulated Activity | Active firms |
|---|---|
| Arranging Deals in Investments | 301 |
| Advising on Investments or Credit | 262 |
| Managing a Collective Investment Fund | 162 |
| Managing Assets | 108 |
| Arranging Credit | 73 |
| Arranging Custody | 66 |
| Dealing in Investments as Principal (Matched) | 35 |
| Dealing in Investments as Agent | 33 |
| Providing Custody | 27 |
Most firms hold several activities, so the column adds up to more than 424.
Virtual assets
- 22 active firms list Virtual Assets as an asset class. The register shows 29 such entries in total, and 7 are withdrawn.
- 3 active firms may issue a fiat-referenced token: Paxos Issuance MENA Ltd, Universal Digital INTL Limited and JINGDONG COINLINK TECHNOLOGY (MIDDLE EAST) LIMITED (FSP 6 January 2026).
- 3 of the 22 first received an FSP in 2026: BTCS (MIDDLE EAST) LTD, SHIFT INVESTMENTS LIMITED and Arab Bank (Switzerland) ME Limited.
- Withdrawals. BITEXEN MENA LTD and BITEXEN CUSTODY LTD received FSPs on 18 May 2026. Both were withdrawn on 17 September 2026. Matrix Limited was withdrawn on 30 April 2026.
- Token list. We found no public list of Accepted Virtual Assets on the FSRA's website.
| Active firm listing Virtual Assets | FSP date |
|---|---|
| Arab Bank (Switzerland) ME Limited | 22 Oct 2026 |
| SHIFT INVESTMENTS LIMITED | 5 Oct 2026 |
| BTCS (MIDDLE EAST) LTD | 1 Jul 2026 |
| Hidden Road Partners CIV (Middle East) Limited | 15 Dec 2025 |
| Primrose Capital Management (Middle East) Limited | 10 Dec 2025 |
| BurjX MENA Ltd. | 11 Jun 2025 |
| QCP Trading Middle East Limited | 27 May 2025 |
| XBTO Middle East Limited | 14 May 2025 |
| Aspen Digital Financial Limited | 11 Dec 2024 |
| TRITON LIMITED | 11 Dec 2024 |
| Zodia Markets (AME) Limited | 10 Dec 2024 |
| Paxos Middle East Ltd | 17 Oct 2024 |
| Laser Digital (AD) Limited | 7 Jun 2024 |
| Klickl International Limited | 16 Apr 2024 |
| Tungsten Custody Solutions Ltd | 27 Nov 2023 |
| eToro (ME) Ltd | 16 Oct 2023 |
| Changer.ae Limited | 15 Sep 2023 |
| Sygnum Bank AG | 16 Mar 2023 |
| Rain Trading Limited | 22 Dec 2022 |
| AMINA Bank AG | 7 Feb 2022 |
| Ousoul Assets Custodian and Trading Facilities Limited | 28 Jul 2020 |
| Standard Chartered Bank | 10 Dec 2019 |
New licences in 2026
Eighty-seven firms received an FSP in 2026, to 9 November. Eighty-four are still active. For comparison, 95 firms on the register received an FSP in 2025 and 80 in 2024.
| Month | New FSPs |
|---|---|
| January | 15 |
| February | 7 |
| March | 7 |
| April | 5 |
| May | 10 |
| June | 8 |
| July | 7 |
| August | 5 |
| September | 16 |
| October | 7 |
| November, to 9 Nov | 0 |
The 10 most recent
| Firm | FSP date |
|---|---|
| Arab Bank (Switzerland) ME Limited | 22 Oct 2026 |
| HEITMAN MIDDLE EAST LIMITED | 22 Oct 2026 |
| SHORY REINSURANCE BROKERAGE LTD | 20 Oct 2026 |
| ARTHA BHARAT INVESTMENT MANAGERS ME LIMITED | 14 Oct 2026 |
| ANIMOCA ASSET MANAGEMENT (AD) LIMITED | 13 Oct 2026 |
| ANFA PARTNERS LIMITED | 9 Oct 2026 |
| SHIFT INVESTMENTS LIMITED | 5 Oct 2026 |
| CAPITAL GROUP INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CO LTD | 29 Sep 2026 |
| GRANDWAY LIMITED | 28 Sep 2026 |
| TRADEHUB CAPITAL LIMITED | 24 Sep 2026 |
Licensing announcements
The FSRA rarely issues its own licence press releases. These announcements were published by firms on ADGM's website, which marks them as external communications.
| Date | Announcement | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 2026 | Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited receives an FSP to manage collective investment funds | Announcement |
| 12 Oct 2026 | 3iQ Middle East Ltd receives In-Principle Approval for a Category 4 licence | Announcement |
| 7 Oct 2026 | Capital Group receives an FSRA licence (FSP dated 29 September 2026 on the register) | Announcement |
| 17 Sep 2026 | iCapital Middle East Limited receives an ADGM licence (FSP dated 22 July 2026) | Announcement |
| 12 Aug 2026 | AGL Credit Management receives ADGM approval (FSP dated 11 July 2026) | Announcement |
| 11 Aug 2026 | Coinbase receives an FSP to arrange deals in investments and provide custody for tokenised securities | Announcement |
| 23 Jul 2026 | Tether says XAU₮ is recognised as an Accepted Spot Commodity in ADGM | Announcement |
| 7 Jul 2026 | BTCS (Middle East) Ltd (Bitcoin Suisse) receives an FSP for digital asset services (FSP dated 1 July 2026) | Announcement |
| 9 Jun 2026 | Copper ME receives In-Principle Approval for virtual asset custody and investment services | Announcement |
| 21 May 2026 | Bitexen MENA and Bitexen Custody receive FSPs (both withdrawn on 17 September 2026) | Announcement |
| 21 May 2026 | Cantor Fitzgerald Europe receives ADGM approval (FSP dated 19 May 2026) | Announcement |
| 1 May 2026 | Rokos Capital Management opens its office after authorisation (FSP dated 9 March 2026) | Announcement |
Recent publications
Rules, notices, letters and consultations are in the updates table above.
| Date | Type | Title and summary | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Sep 2026 | Results | ADGM first-half 2026 results. 13,974 active licences across ADGM, with 1,814 issued in the first half. 190 fund and asset managers and 276 funds. These are ADGM-wide figures, not only FSRA firms. | Announcement |
| 13 Jul 2026 | Annual report | FSRA 2025 Annual Report. The FSRA's latest annual report. | Announcement |
Update history
| Date | Active FSP holders | Active firms listing Virtual Assets | New FSPs in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 2026 | 424 | 22 | 87 |
How we count
- Source. We read the FSRA Public Register on the date shown, using its own filters for status, asset class and regulated activity. Fund counts come from the Funds tab, domestic funds only.
- Dates. "New licences" uses the FSP date on the register. A firm that later added permissions keeps its original FSP date.
- Coverage. Virtual asset counts depend on the register's "Virtual Assets" asset class tag. Updates come from FSRA announcements, the consultations page, FCCP notices, Dear SEO letters and the regulatory actions page.
- Use. You may reuse these figures with credit to Regulatory Gate and a link to this page.
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