UAE approves First Abu Dhabi Bank’s dirham-backed stablecoin

The Central Bank of the UAE has approved First Abu Dhabi Bank’s AED stablecoin, the DDSC, which is now live on ADI Chain, the Layer 2 blockchain developed by the ADI Foundation.

The announcement was made by IHC, Sirius International Holding, and First Abu Dhabi Bank. The stablecoin will be utilized within institutions and governmental entities for payments and collections, settlements, treasury operations, trade and supply chain flows, as well as programmable financial services for regulated entities.

DDSC is expected to be made available to FAB customers through multiple approved platforms. Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of IHC, noted that the launch of the DDSC is a defining milestone in the UAE’s digital finance journey. The stablecoin will expand what is possible in regulated digital payments.

He explains, “As a UAE dirham-backed, programmable stablecoin, DDSC is designed to modernize payments, settlement, and treasury workflows, while enabling secure, automated value transfer, including future machine-to-machine transactions and trade between AI agents as the autonomous economy evolves.”

Futoon Hamdan AlMazrouei, Group Head of Personal, Business, Wealth, and Privileged Client Banking Group at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), added, “Stablecoins can be integrated responsibly into the financial system when built to meet rigorous regulatory and risk requirements. As the UAE’s global bank, FAB is enabling DDSC to seamlessly combine regulatory oversight with blockchain infrastructure, providing secure, scalable solutions that support institutional and government clients across the UAE’s evolving digital economy.”

In a LinkedIn post, ADI CEO Andrey Lazorenko stated that the DDSC AED stablecoin is now live and operating on the ADI Chain. He added, “It’s validation that ADI’s infrastructure is built for real economies, real institutions, and real utility. With two leading institutions, IHC and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), leading the initiative under the oversight of the Central Bank of the UAE, DDSC stablecoin is now live on compliant, sovereign-grade rails.”

The UAE has already approved several AED stablecoins

The DDSC AED stablecoin is not the only one approved by the Central Bank of the UAE. The first AED stablecoin to be approved was AECoin by Al Maryah Community Bank, better known as Mbank, while Zand Bank has also received a license for AEDZ, the UAE’s first regulated multi-chain AED-backed stablecoin on public blockchains.

Recently as well, the Central Bank of the UAE approved the USD backed stablecoin USDU as a foreign payment token. Universal Digital Intl Limited (“Universal”), regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (“FSRA”) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) in the UAE, issued both a fiat reference token that can cater to professional clients, as well as a foreign payment token issuer with the Central Bank of the UAE. The fully USD backed stablecoin USDU, the registered foreign payment token, can be used for domestic payment for digital assets and digital assets derivatives.

In the meantime RAK Bank received in principle approval for its AED Stablecoin.

Tether in 2024 was the first to announce that it would be launching an AED stablecoin on the TON Network, but to date nothing has come out of this announcement.

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