What is the CMA and why did it replace the SCA?

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) is the direct legal successor to the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), renamed and re-based on 1 January 2026, when Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 on the Capital Market Authority and Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025 on the regulation of capital markets took effect. It is the UAE's federal regulator for onshore capital markets and for virtual-asset service providers operating outside Dubai and the financial free zones.

The change altered the regulator's name and legal footing, not its onshore federal remit, which dates from Cabinet Decision No. 111 of 2022. On 13 April 2026 the CMA issued its Virtual Assets Framework: five core modules — General Requirements, Conduct of Business, Alternative Trading System, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing, and Prudential Requirements — and eight regulated activities, up from three: dealing in virtual assets as principal or as agent, providing custody, arranging custody, arranging investment deals, investment advice, portfolio management and operating a multilateral trading facility.

Capital, conduct and AML requirements for each activity sit inside the framework's five modules — confirm specifics directly with the CMA rather than assume they mirror VARA's rulebooks.

Who does the CMA regulate for virtual assets?

The CMA regulates virtual-asset service providers and crypto sellers operating onshore anywhere in the UAE outside Dubai and outside the financial free zones — the DIFC and the ADGM. That covers Abu Dhabi mainland activity outside ADGM, and the whole of Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain.

For a resident or business in Sharjah or Ajman, there is no dedicated local virtual-asset authority — onshore crypto activity in those emirates falls to the federal CMA by default. A desk operating from any of these emirates, rather than through a VARA or ADGM licence, needs to hold a CMA authorisation.

This is a territorial split, not a client-facing one: it governs where a firm is licensed to operate from, not where its customers live.

How does the CMA relate to VARA and the ADGM FSRA?

The CMA sits alongside three other UAE crypto and financial regulators, each with its own territory: VARA in Dubai outside the DIFC, the DFSA inside the DIFC, and the FSRA inside Abu Dhabi's ADGM. For the fuller picture of how the Dubai and Abu Dhabi regimes differ day to day, see how crypto rules differ between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

VARA and the SCA (now the CMA) signed a cooperation agreement on 5 September 2024: a VASP operating in or from Dubai must hold a VARA licence and is registered by default with the federal regulator to serve the wider UAE, while a VASP operating from any other emirate must be licensed federally. The agreement also covers mutual supervision, penalties, information exchange and training. The point is straightforward: a firm licensed in one zone is not re-licensed for the same activity in another.

What changed for sellers outside Dubai in 2026?

For a client selling crypto in Sharjah, Ajman or another emirate outside Dubai and ADGM, the practical change in 2026 is who signs off the licence, not the rules a licensed desk follows. Until the end of 2025 the onshore federal regulator was the SCA, working from Cabinet Decision No. 111 of 2022; since 1 January 2026 it is the CMA, and since 13 April 2026 the CMA's Virtual Assets Framework sets the licensing modules and activities.

If you already use a Dubai desk licensed by VARA, nothing changes for you: the 2024 agreement already registers a VARA licensee federally for the wider UAE, and did before the CMA existed under that name. The reconstitution mainly affects firms holding, or applying for, a federal onshore licence directly.

A firm still advertising only "SCA licensed", with no reference to the 2026 transition, is worth a direct question before you trade.

How do you verify a desk outside Dubai is legal?

Verifying a desk outside Dubai takes the same two steps as verifying one inside it: ask for the licence number and the issuing regulator, then check that number in the matching public register. Outside Dubai and ADGM, that register is the CMA's; a firm citing a VARA licence is also registered federally under the 2024 SCA–VARA agreement, provided the register entry resolves. A firm citing an ADGM FSRA licence is licensed for activity in or from ADGM — check the FSRA register and ask on what basis it serves you outside it.

• Ask which regulator issued the licence — CMA, VARA or the ADGM FSRA — and get the licence number in writing.
• Check the CMA's public register for a federal licence, or VARA's public register if the firm cites a Dubai licence.
• Expect the same federal AML rules everywhere: identity documents, source-of-funds checks and the same onboarding standard regardless of emirate.
• Expect own-name settlement only — a licensed desk pays into a bank account in your own name, in Sharjah, Ajman or Dubai alike.

IWGT operates from Dubai under VARA licence VL/24/12/002, listed in the licence section of our main page; under the 2024 SCA–VARA agreement that licence is registered federally to serve clients across the UAE, including Sharjah and Ajman, without a second licence for the same activity.

The bottom line on the CMA framework

The CMA is the federal successor to the SCA, regulating virtual-asset activity onshore outside Dubai and the financial free zones under the Virtual Assets Framework it issued on 13 April 2026. For a client, the practical protection has not moved: verify the licence in the register that matches the firm's claim, expect the same identity checks everywhere, and treat a resolving register entry — CMA, VARA or FSRA — as the baseline before you send anything. Questions on how this applies to your situation belong in our main FAQ section.

This guide is informational and is not legal, tax or investment advice, nor an invitation to buy or sell any virtual asset. Rules and figures are as of September 2026 — re-check the sources before acting. Virtual assets may lose their value in full or in part and are subject to extreme volatility.