Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority CEO: Finance’s AI future moves at the speed of its slowest regulator

Matthew White is CEO of Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the world’s first dedicated virtual assets regulator. He has more than 20 years’ experience in technology, cybersecurity and digital risk, including more than a decade advising financial institutions at PwC, where he led the cybersecurity practice and grew it to over 150 specialists. He played a foundational role in establishing VARA, helping build the authority from the ground up on the premise that virtual assets require new supervisory models beyond traditional financial regulation. He is an alumnus of the University of Bath and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.