Deepa Raja Carbon, VARA
Launching a regulatory agency like it's a startup.
When we sat down with Deepa Raja Carbon, Managing Director and Vice Chair of Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), our assumption was straightforward: she must be a finance veteran, or perhaps a crypto insider. In fact, her roots lie in economy, tourism, strategy, and policy. We quickly realised this is not a contradiction but a strength for both the UAE and the digital-assets industry.
“One doesn’t need to be from somewhere specific to belong here,” she says, summing up her belief that Dubai’s openness creates opportunities for talent willing to contribute to its future. It is telling that one of the leading architects of Dubai’s digital-asset industry comes not from Wall Street or Silicon Valley, but from the broader economic ecosystem the city has been cultivating for decades.
VARA was established in 2022 as a specialist regulator for the foundations of the Future Economy, not as an offshoot of a central bank or a securities authority. Conceived from first principles unlike other jurisdictions, it reflects Dubai’s decision to design a purpose-built model underscoring its intent to build a sustainable and truly borderless ecosystem.
Deepa began her career as a Management Consultant at Booz & Company in Chicago before moving to Dubai in 2006, where she joined the Dubai World Trade Centre. Her work spanned business strategy, sectoral development, and global representation, including major milestones such as the 2020 Dubai Expo.
The Covid-19 pandemic tested global systems to breaking point; whether travel, trade, or cross-border business, almost every pillar of the global economic engine came to an overnight standstill. Yet the pace and strength of the recovery highlighted not only Dubai’s resilience but also its responsiveness and adaptability. Given the UAE’s largely expatriate workforce, one of the Government’s key priorities was ensuring that people could remit money home despite the disruptions the pandemic created for P2P finance. This period sparked deeper socio-economic conversations about inclusion, technology, and the future of finance.
“We can’t be borderless, interconnected and instantaneous without a virtual economy,” she says. Beyond financial use cases, there is also a clear need to assess real-world asset tokenisation, from real estate to art, allowing for more equitable economic participation.
To learn more about Deepa helped establish VARA and the way the regulator approaches crypto licensing and supervision, check out our book, ARABIAN CRYPTO. Subscribe to get a free advance copy! All we ask in return is a review when the book is officially published. Deal? Cool, go ahead and hit this pretty blue button: