Matthew Grint, General Manager of Selini Capital FZE, is steering the company’s next phase of growth following its recent approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). The milestone marks a pivotal moment in Selini Capital’s global strategy, enabling the firm to directly offer institutional-grade liquidity and pricing services under a fully regulated framework.
With Dubai now established as Selini’s regional hub, Grint highlights how the emirate’s unique blend of regulatory clarity, world-class infrastructure, and strong talent base makes it an ideal location for scaling digital asset operations. Under his leadership, Selini Capital aims to leverage its proprietary trading technology and robust global liquidity network to deliver seamless, efficient, and compliant OTC trading solutions for institutional clients.
As the company deepens its roots in Dubai, Grint envisions transforming the local office into Selini’s primary global hub for institutional OTC trading—a center of excellence driving innovation, compliance, and client service. His vision aligns with Dubai’s broader ambition to become a leading global destination for digital asset innovation and responsible growth.
Matthew Grint, General Manager of Selini Capital FZE:
1. What does securing the VARA license mean for Selini Capital’s global and regional growth strategy?
Securing the VARA license is a major milestone for the company as it enables us to offer our liquidity and pricing directly to institutional clients for the first time under a fully regulated framework.
The license supports our regional and global growth strategy by providing a regulatory framework for us to bring our trading technology to partners in the MENA region and beyond.
2. Why did you choose Dubai as a regional hub for Selini’s operations?
We chose Dubai as Selini Capital’s regional hub as it offers the ideal combination of regulatory clarity, institutional infrastructure and support for innovation. Dubai was one of the first jurisdictions to implement a dedicated regulatory framework for virtual assets, overseen by a specialist regulator with the remit and resources to allow the digital asset sector to develop in a safe and secure environment.
Dubai also has world class infrastructure and has become a strong centre for global talent in digital assets across trading, operations and technology. It continues to be a draw for talented individuals moving from traditional financial centres and there is now a robust local hiring market for the sector.
The UAE is also home to leading institutions across the digital asset and traditional finance sectors. Its strategic geographic location and the critical mass of investors, service providers, and other institutions has made it a convenient location for us to scale our business and better serve new and existing clients.
3. How do you view Dubai’s regulatory environment compared to other global jurisdictions for digital assets?
Dubai has a comprehensive and purpose built framework for regulating digital assets, with a dedicated regulator (VARA) overseeing the sector. This is unlike many other jurisdictions which instead have tried to adapt existing legacy financial regulations to fit digital assets rather than designing a bespoke regime from the ground up.
The rule books provided by VARA are more comprehensive than those available in many other jurisdictions, which gives confidence to both regulated firms and their clients about how business will be done in a safe and secure way.
The innovation culture that Dubai has fostered also means that the regulation is friendly to innovation when it is done in a transparent and safe manner. VARA exemplifies this engaged and consultative approach to innovation, being receptive to new ideas whilst ensuring that firms’ technology, compliance, and internal controls are thoroughly evaluated before they can do business. This gives firms like Selini the ability to operate with confidence and clarity, knowing exactly how to remain compliant while innovating responsibly.
4. What operational capabilities will the VARA license unlock for Selini in Dubai?
The VARA licence allows Selini to launch its new OTC trading capabilities, including allowing Selini to directly offer liquidity and pricing to institutional clients through regulated broker-dealer OTC trading services.
Clients can now trade virtual assets with Selini through either block trades – large trades for which we can offer a fixed price for immediate execution – or execution services, where we can deploy a number of smart strategies to execute a trade on behalf of a client.
Both these approaches make use of our advanced proprietary trading technology and global liquidity network, allowing us to minimise market impact and offer competitive pricing to our clients.
5. Could you elaborate on Selini’s advanced trading technology and how it enhances execution efficiency?
Selini’s trading technology is built from the ground up to deliver institutional grade execution across digital asset markets. The infrastructure consists of price prediction models to allow our clients to benefit from our ability to forecast short term price movements when executing their trades, as well as bespoke execution strategies and ultra low latency connectivity.
The technology is designed for institutional trading, with the twin goals of providing competitive pricing and reducing market impact so clients can quickly and seamlessly execute their transactions without signalling their transaction to the market.
Finally, beyond the trading technology, Selini has built a bespoke operational infrastructure to improve the all round client experience through the trading lifecycle. Clients have access to three daily settlement windows, a live client portal in which they can see pricing across all assets and trade instantly, and the ability to monitor and manage execution strategies in real-time.
Despite all the investment in technology, Selini is first and foremost a client-centric business so our traders are always on hand to answer questions or execute transactions on behalf of clients.
6. How will this milestone strengthen Selini’s global liquidity footprint and connectivity?
Receiving the VASP Licence provides a framework for us to maintain the highest standards of compliance and AML-CFT whilst facilitating our institutional client base. It allows us to extend our services to new clients and adopt new sources of liquidity from venues which take comfort from the high standards to which are held in terms of compliance and integrity.
7. What’s your vision for Selini Capital’s presence in Dubai over the next three to five years?
Over the next three to five years, Selini Capital’s vision for Dubai is to build the local office into our primary global hub for institutional OTC trading. It will be a center of excellence for further development of our institutional trading technology and for extending our client-centric approach.
We will continue to invest in our local team and develop our offering to ensure that clients receive the highest standards of service and a unique and effective offering for any of their trading needs.
Finally, we will continue to help foster the digital asset ecosystem in Dubai through our partnerships, education and awareness programs. We hope to make digital assets safe and accessible for institutional investors throughout the region.
