Coinbase has received regulatory approval to establish an international tokenisation hub in Abu Dhabi, expanding its presence in the UAE.
The company secured a Financial Services Permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market. The approval allows Coinbase to arrange investment deals and provide custody services for tokenised securities.
According to the company, securities issued and registered in ADGM will be backed by underlying shares and overseen by the FSRA. Eligible holders may retain shareholder rights, including voting, while dividends will be automatically reinvested.
Redemption rights will depend on the conditions set out in each prospectus and may require a brokerage or bank account for receiving proceeds. However, transactions involving only the digital securities will not require such an account.
Transfers will remain subject to sanctions screening, and assets may be frozen or seized at the wallet level where required for compliance.
The Abu Dhabi hub is part of Coinbase’s broader UAE expansion, which also includes a derivatives operation in Dubai. Brett Tejpaul, co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, said ADGM’s virtual asset framework could support tokenised equities as securities, blockchain-native tokens and DeFi-composable assets.
Source: Fintech News
