Multiple licensed stablecoins, a central bank actively building open finance infrastructure, and a growing web of players all racing to define what digital money looks like here. The MFTA has just published a new industry report mapping it all out. Joining me is Akos Erzse, UAE Policy Manager at Coinbase and Co-Chair of the MFTA Policy and Regulation Working Group. Welcome to Wall Street to Mena.
Great to be here.
MFTA just published its new report on the digital assets and stablecoin ecosystem. Walk us through the headline takeaway.
The one-line key takeaway I would highlight is that the UAE has crossed a meaningful threshold. As the report shows, the market has seen incredible regulatory momentum on digital assets over the past few years — including stablecoins — and this momentum has brought us from the stage of building regulatory frameworks to actually using them to enable regular commercial activity at scale. The UAE story is no longer just about ambition. It is also about execution. The next chapter is about leveraging the regulatory leadership the UAE has established to cement its position as a commercial and market leader.
The UAE now has more than one licensed dirham-backed stablecoin. Why does the market need multiple options rather than just one?
Healthy and resilient financial infrastructure does not run on a single rail. Having multiple licensed stablecoins in market gives you competition on price, competition on service, and resilience in case one issuer faces a challenge. The key point is not having one common stablecoin — it is having common standards and common rules around reserves, redemption, and interoperability. That ensures any regulated stablecoin that comes to market is safe for use by both consumers and businesses.
You wear two hats — Coinbase and MFTA. How does that dual position change the way you push for regulation?
The MFTA is a fantastic platform for the industry and the broader public to engage directly with regulators — whether through public consultations or direct engagement. My role as Co-Chair of the Policy and Regulation Working Group complements my role as UAE Policy Manager at Coinbase, where I manage their relationships with policymakers and regulators not just in the UAE but across the broader region. It is quite a unique position to be in.
The Central Bank is building out open finance infrastructure alongside all the stablecoin activity. How connected are those two efforts?
They are more interconnected than people realise. Think of them as two layers pointing in the same direction. Open finance is the connectivity and data sharing layer — it connects banks, fintechs, and consumers to transfer data and initiate transactions securely. Stablecoins are the settlement layer — they move value near-instantly, 24/7, at a fraction of the cost of traditional financial rails. Individually, both are exciting. Together, they build a foundation for things like automated treasury management, instant cross-border payments, and agentic commerce — which I think is going to be a critical part of the future of finance. And the Central Bank's dual focus on both simultaneously is not a coincidence. It is a strategy. That holistic approach to regulation and innovation at the same time is what sets the UAE apart.
Are banks and corporates in the UAE actually using stablecoins, or are they still just talking about it?
Institutional adoption is very much real and is quickly moving out of the pilot phase. A good example is International Holding Company's transaction — I believe a 100 million dirham transaction settled on-chain. That is a very significant institutional transaction. And if you look more broadly, global stablecoins in the UAE have reached a $312 million market cap. In June alone, the total adjusted transaction volume was approximately $1.8 billion — a 105% increase year on year. The momentum is there. The adoption is increasing, and it is driven by genuine business need.
How does the UAE's regulatory framework compare to the rest of the GCC?
The GCC as a whole has been an early mover on digital asset regulation. The FSRA and the UAE Central Bank were among the first to issue dedicated frameworks, and Dubai was the first in the world to launch a dedicated virtual assets regulatory authority. Within the GCC, different markets have taken different emphases — Saudi Arabia, for example, has been very focused on real world asset tokenisation. What is unique about the UAE is that its regulation covers trading, investment, tokenisation, stablecoins, and payments — and critically, the intersection of all three. That regulatory depth is not something we have seen elsewhere.
What is the next milestone you expect to see in digital assets in the UAE?
The path is fairly clear — the UAE has laid very strong foundations and the next step is to deepen them. We will see more complex products, particularly stablecoins that operate across multiple regulatory frameworks within the UAE. A good early example is DDHC recently receiving approval from the Central Bank to list its token on a select number of licensed exchanges. But what I am personally most excited about is the convergence of AI and digital assets. Given the UAE's dual focus on both, seeing the two come closer together is going to be genuinely groundbreaking from a future of finance perspective.
It is going fast. Thank you so much for being here with us.
Thank you for having me.
