Buy crypto in the UAE with AED on a VARA-licensed platform
BitOasis is a platform where UAE residents buy crypto with dirhams and sell or trade more than 60 digital assets. It is run by BitOasis Technologies FZE, licensed by Dubai VARA for Broker-Dealer Services (reference VL/2024/11/001), with 0% fee AED bank transfers and a 0% trading fee on Lite.
Risk warning. Virtual Assets may lose their value in full or in part, and are subject to extreme volatility. The owner and/or investor in the Virtual Asset can lose all the money or other value they invest, and does not benefit from any form of financial protection. Read the risk disclosure statement.
- Your UAE bank accountSend AED by bank transfer for a 0% fee
- Your BitOasis account, in AEDAdd funds from 100 AED
- CryptoBitcoin, USDT and other digital assets, on Lite or Pro
- Back to your UAE bank accountAED withdrawal fee from 25 AED
- Licensed by
- Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) Open the VARA register entry
- VASP Licence reference
- VL/2024/11/001 Status on the register: Active
- Licensed activity
- Broker-Dealer Services What the licence covers
- Founded
- 2015, in the UAE Who runs and owns BitOasis
- Custody provider
- BitGo How client assets are held
Register entry read on .
What you can do on BitOasis
Most people come to BitOasis for one of three things. Each has its own page with the fees, the limits and the steps.
-
Buy Bitcoin with AED
Add dirhams to your account, then buy Bitcoin at a quoted price on Lite or with a market or limit order on Pro.
0.0005 BTCnetwork fee to send Bitcoin out
-
Buy USDT with AED
USDT is issued by Tether, not by BitOasis. You buy it with dirhams and can send it out on the ERC20 or the TRC20 network.
2.00 USDTfee to send USDT on TRC20
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Sell crypto and withdraw AED
Sell on Lite or Pro, then withdraw the dirhams to your UAE bank account. Above 25,000 AED the withdrawal fee is 65 AED.
25 AEDwithdrawal fee up to 25,000 AED
Crypto trading on BitOasis: Lite and Pro
BitOasis has two trading services and lists more than 200 trading pairs. Lite shows you one quoted price. Pro gives you an order book.
BitOasis Lite: a quoted price and a 0% trading fee
0%Lite trading fee
Lite is the simple buy, sell and swap service. The price you see is a quote sourced from liquidity providers. The spread inside that quote is not published, so check the quote against the market price before you confirm.
BitOasis Pro: market and limit orders with maker-taker fees
0.38% / 0.58%maker and taker fee at the entry tier, crypto-to-AED pairs
Pro adds market and limit orders, advanced charting and order books. Fees follow nine tiers set by your 30-day volume. On crypto-to-AED pairs they fall to 0.10% maker and 0.30% taker from AED 50 million. On crypto-to-crypto pairs they start at 0.10% maker and 0.18% taker.
Orders from both services are routed to liquidity providers. BitOasis says it does not match customers against each other on a matching engine of its own. The fees page has both Pro tier tables.
Fees at a glance
| What you do | Fee |
|---|---|
| Add AED by bank transfer | 0% |
| Trade on Lite | 0% trading fee |
| Trade crypto-to-AED pairs on Pro | from 0.38% maker / 0.58% taker |
Read from the BitOasis fee pages on . Last reviewed .
Card payments cost from 3.99%, and AED withdrawals cost from 25 AED. On BitOasis a bank transfer costs less than a card: 0% against from 3.99%.
Every tier, funding method and network fee is in the full BitOasis fee schedule.
Is BitOasis a crypto exchange?
People often call BitOasis a crypto exchange, and you can buy, sell and place order-book style trades on it. In licence terms it is a broker-dealer. Its VARA licence covers Broker-Dealer Services, not Exchange Services, and its help centre says it “operates as a brokerage”: every order is routed to liquidity providers and is not matched against another customer's order.
The two licence types are compared in UAE crypto regulation and VARA licences explained.
- On the licence
- Broker-Dealer Services
- Not on the licence
- Exchange Services
- Liquidity providers named in the Terms
- Bitfinex, Aquanow and BitGo MENA FZE
Who licenses BitOasis
BitOasis Technologies FZE is licensed by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for Broker-Dealer Services, VASP Licence reference VL/2024/11/001. The register shows the licence as Active and says the company is permitted to serve institutional, qualified and retail investors. The company is formed in Dubai Silicon Oasis under DIEZA licence no. 1462.
The licences page has the VARA licence VL/2024/11/001 details, including what the licence does not cover. The About page explains who runs and owns BitOasis.
Registered as a Reporting Entity on the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit goAML platform.
Operational approval from VARA.
MVP Operational License from VARA.
Full VASP Licence issued, according to the VARA register. The BitOasis About page gives 9 December 2024.
How client assets are held
BitOasis publishes three statements about custody. None of them removes the risk of loss, and a BitOasis account is not covered by any financial protection scheme.
The security page sets out how client assets are held and what BitOasis does not publish. If you would prefer to hold your own keys, read custodial and self-custody wallets compared.
- Custody through BitGo
- Wallet and custody services are provided through BitGo entities: BitGo Custody MENA FZE, BitGo Trust and BitGo Inc. Source: BitOasis Terms of Service.
- Segregated wallets
- Client virtual assets are held in segregated wallets and are not co-mingled with company funds. Source: BitOasis Terms of Service.
- Cold storage
- BitOasis says a majority of its users' crypto is held offline in cold storage. It gives no percentage. Source: BitOasis Security page.
Get started: account, verification and funding
Create an account
You must be 18 or over and live in a supported country. You need a mobile number.
Verify your identity
Have a government-issued residency ID or passport ready, then take a selfie and declare your source of funds.
Add AED
Bank transfer and Easy Funding cost 0%. Card and Apple Pay cost from 3.99%. The minimum is 100 AED.
Place an order
Use Lite for a quoted price, or Pro for market and limit orders.
This page describes the service for UAE residents who pay in AED. Each payment method, with its fee, minimum and crediting time, is on the page about Bitcoin fees, limits and payment methods. The BitOasis app for iOS and Android has its own page with the official store links, and the FAQ gives answers to common account questions.
Learn before you trade
Three guides cover the questions people ask before a first purchase: how to buy, who regulates the market and where the coins are kept.
They are written by the BitOasis Research Team and reviewed by the Head of Compliance. For information only, not investment advice.
Support and complaints
- Live chat
- On bitoasis.net and in the app.
- [email protected]
- Help centre
- support.bitoasis.net
- Phone
- No support phone number appears on the BitOasis home, About or Security pages. If a call or message claims to come from BitOasis, confirm it through live chat or [email protected].
The contact page lists every official channel and domain: contact BitOasis support.
If something goes wrong
BitOasis says it makes a first attempt to resolve a complaint within 3 business days and resolves it within 3 weeks. Its Compliance Officer gives a final response within 6 weeks, and never later than 50 days. A complaint that is still unresolved can be referred to VARA.
The steps are set out in how to make a complaint. The documents behind this page are the risk disclosure statement, the terms of service summary, the privacy policy and the editorial and AI-use policy.
Have your ID or passport and an AED payment method ready.