jakiro
The past few days in Dubai were intensively meeting new and old friends in the industry and learning new projects. In the past two days, I have been in Abu Dhabi for various in-depth exchanges with local policymakers.
The UAE’s macroeconomic thinking is also very clear, accelerating its transformation from the past oil economy to a future-oriented financial technology hub (intuitively, the highway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is still busy at 2 o’clock in the middle of the night, and the two cities are full of construction sites, which feels like Shenzhen 10 years ago).The encryption industry is one of the core overtaking sectors, and it is currently in a relatively favorable position.
Binance obtained the world’s first complete set of licenses (exchange, clearing, broker-dealer) in Abu Dhabi (ADGM), and moved its headquarters to Abu Dhabi. This also greatly enhanced the UAE’s status as a global encryption center – in theory, the total assets under the supervision of Abu Dhabi have greatly exceeded the SEC.On the premise that the momentum of overall implementation acceleration continues unabated, policymakers focus on compliance, institutional-level infrastructure construction and stablecoin integration:
Dubai (led by VARA and DIFC frameworks)
– Crypto payment integration for government services: Dubai Financial Sector andA memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to allow residents to pay government fees using cryptocurrencies, with stablecoins automatically converted to dirhams.XRP becomes the first digital asset to receive regulatory approval in Dubai.This marks a key step in Dubai’s transformation towards a cashless society.
– Stablecoin regulatory expansion: The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) approved Circle’s USDC and EURC as the first batch of stable coins to be included in the crypto token system, applicable to nearly 7,000 companies in DIFC for payment, fund management and digital asset services.Meanwhile, Tether’s USDT expands in real estate and payments.
– Derivatives and retail trading open: Under the VARA framework, okxLaunch of regulated crypto derivatives trading, supporting retail traders with futures, perpetual contracts and options (up to 5x leverage).Laser Digital obtains Dubai’s first institutional-grade OTC crypto options license.
– Infrastructure construction: Dubai announced the construction of “Crypto Tower” (17-story building, located in Jumeirah Lake Towers), providing 150,000 square feet of office space dedicated to blockchain startups, incubators and AI innovative enterprises, equipped with NFT galleries and crypto clubs.
– Bank-level adoption: State-owned bank Emirates NBD launches crypto trading services through the Liv
Abu Dhabi (led by ADGM and FSRA frameworks)
– Comprehensive financial law is enacted: Federal Decree No. 6 of 2025 comes into effect, placing DeFi, Web3 platforms, stablecoin issuers, DEX and cross-chain bridges under the supervision of the Central Bank (CBUAE).All projects must obtain permits by September 2026 or face hefty fines.Provide a clear regulatory path for RWA.
– Stablecoin and payment rail approval: ADGM approved USDT as a “fiat-referenced token”, supporting 9-12 public chains (such as Aptos, TON, TRON, Cosmos, Near, Solana) for institutional payments, custody and lending.Circle obtained a financial services license (FSP) to become a regulated Money Services Provider and appointed a head of Middle East to strengthen regional cooperation.
– Local stablecoin issuance: First Abu Dhabi Bank plans to issue a dirham stablecoin regulated by CBUAE, with settlement based on ADI Chain (the first institutional-level L2 blockchain in the Middle East), supporting Abu Dhabi real estate tokenization (ADREC cooperation) and 20+ national government projects.
– Global regulatory benchmarks: ADGM expands Al Maryah Island financial district with $16 billion investment.Ripple’s RLUSD, tokenized assets and XRP are approved by the DFSA for use in all financial services.Overall, Abu Dhabi focuses more on institutional and global compliance (competing with London and Singapore), while Dubai emphasizes retail and innovation infrastructure.The UAE’s regulatory environment is moving from an “offshore experiment” to an “onshore financial system”, attracting global liquidity.
Here is a little easter egg: An important ecological project invested and incubated by 0G foundation was officially announced at a closed-door event in Abu Dhabi yesterday to become the data service provider of the Zambian government, and the data layer will be fully implemented on 0G’s infrastructure (the name of the project cannot be announced for the time being).
