Mantra Becomes First DeFi Platform to Secure VARA License
Mantra, a blockchain platform specializing in real-world asset tokenization, has become the first DeFi project to secure a license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
This approval allows Mantra to offer exchange, broker-dealer, and asset management services, marking a significant step in Dubai’s emergence as a global blockchain hub.
Dubai’s clear regulatory framework and VARA’s oversight have attracted blockchain firms, with Mantra already forming key partnerships, such as a $1 billion deal with Damac Group for tokenized financing in real estate and data centers.
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The company is also working with Libre Capital to tokenize hedge funds and other financial products in the region.
The VASP license positions Mantra to expand its DeFi offerings in Dubai and introduce new, regulated products as it taps into the growing demand for virtual assets. This milestone sets the stage for the platform’s broader global expansion.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
