UAEAbout
Matthew White is Chief Executive Officer of Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). He has more than 20 years' experience in technology, cybersecurity and digital risk. Before VARA he was a partner at PwC, where he led the cybersecurity and digital trust practice advising financial institutions. He also co-founded two start-ups, decent and Clubbie, and is an alumnus of MIT Sloan School of Management and Oxford's Saïd Business School.
White played a foundational role in setting up VARA and was named its CEO in November 2023, succeeding Henson Orser, to lead the regulator into full-scale market operations.
Under his leadership VARA issued Version 2.0 of its activity rulebooks in May 2025 and, in April 2026, published guidance on its Virtual Assets Issuance Rulebook covering fiat-referenced and asset-referenced tokens. In a July 2026 Fortune commentary he argued that regulators must build real-time, technology-led supervision if AI is to be adopted safely in finance.
Policy engagement
Leads Dubai's dedicated virtual asset regulator and wrote a July 2026 Fortune commentary arguing that regulators must keep pace with AI and technology change in finance.
Key actions
Wrote a Fortune commentary arguing that finance's AI future depends on regulators adopting real-time monitoring and programmable compliance.
SourceVARA published guidance on virtual asset issuance covering fiat-referenced and asset-referenced tokens, with White saying clear issuance standards are fundamental to resilient markets.
SourceVARA issued Version 2.0 of its activity rulebooks, tightening rules on margin trading, token distribution and collateral wallets.
SourceNamed CEO of VARA, taking over from Henson Orser to lead the regulator into full-scale market operations.
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