Coinbase Secures Abu Dhabi Licence for Tokenised Equities Platform

The US cryptocurrency exchange has received a Financial Services Permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market, authorising the platform to arrange deals in investments and provide custody services for tokenised securities.

The licence enables the company to operate what it calls its international tokenisation hub — the first of two institutional operations the exchange is building in the UAE, the other being a derivatives business in Dubai.

The permission covers arrangement and custody of tokenised equities backed one-to-one by underlying shares. Investors holding the digital securities gain economic exposure to dividends, though voting and redemption rights depend on vesting terms outlined in each prospectus.

Transactions can be executed using only a crypto wallet, without requiring a brokerage account or correspondent banking relationship for secondary transfers. Redemption into fiat currency still requires a traditional bank or brokerage account.

Brett Tejpaul, co-chief executive of Coinbase Institutional, emphasised the regulatory framework's unique structure rather than its promotional appeal.

No major financial centre has yet built a framework that treats tokenized equities simultaneously as securities, blockchain-native tokens, and DeFi-composable assets.

The distinction matters because it allows tokenised instruments to function as regulated securities while remaining composable on-chain and compatible with decentralised finance protocols.

Abu Dhabi Global Market operates one of the more established virtual-asset regulatory regimes in the Gulf region. The FSRA introduced its initial virtual-asset rules in 2018, earlier than comparable frameworks in several larger jurisdictions.

The approval matters because it creates a regulated pathway for issuing tokenised equities with the same investor protections as conventional securities, including sanctions screening and the technical ability to freeze or seize assets at wallet level. That combination — regulatory compliance alongside on-chain composability — forms the core technical and legal proposition.

ADGM functions under English common law and maintains internationally recognised standards. Its regulatory authority operates independently from the UAE's onshore Securities and Commodities Authority, and registration in ADGM does not automatically grant passporting rights to other Gulf Cooperation Council jurisdictions.

Arvind Ramamurthy, chief market development officer at ADGM, stated the Coinbase hub demonstrates the strength of the centre's "progressive, robust and internationally aligned regulatory framework."

Tokenised securities have drawn sustained attention from institutional players globally, with asset managers, custodians and exchanges building infrastructure to bring real-world assets on-chain at scale.

BlackRock's tokenised money market fund on Ethereum, Franklin Templeton's on-chain fund, and several bank-led bond issuances have shown regulatory acceptance in the US and Europe.

ADGM and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in Dubai are competing to establish the UAE as the primary Gulf centre for this infrastructure layer. The licence represents a significant indicator of where one of the world's largest crypto exchanges sees the most workable regulatory conditions.

The central commercial question is liquidity and distribution. Tokenised equity products need secondary market depth to move beyond niche early adopters, and that depth depends on whether institutional custodians, market makers and retail wallet providers connect to the same infrastructure.

The exchange's existing retail and institutional distribution provides an advantage, but the product's reach will ultimately be determined by which jurisdictions allow their residents to hold ADGM-issued digital securities, not just by the technical architecture.

Key milestones to monitor include the first named tokenised securities issued under the permission, the identity of anchor institutional investors or issuers, and any reciprocal licensing or recognition arrangements that extend distribution beyond the UAE.