• Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority issued new anti-money laundering guidance requiring crypto firms to adopt data-driven risk assessment frameworks.
• Virtual asset service providers must update risk assessments at least every three months and integrate FATF high-risk and blacklisted country data.
• The regulator said firms must strengthen oversight of AI-related and anonymity-enhanced transaction risks as part of ongoing compliance efforts.

Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) introduced new anti-money laundering guidance requiring crypto firms to use quantitative data in risk models and refresh risk assessments at least every three months.

The updated framework follows VARA’s 2026 Business Risk Assessment review and…