The United Arab Emirates’ new central bank law enacted recently brings digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) into traditional banking regulatory compliance and positions the country as a global financial innovation hub.
The new law, which was enacted in September but made public this week, contemplates fines for unlicensed operations within the country of up to 1 billion dinars ($272 million) and states all crypto and blockchain organizations that conduct business in or from the UAE must be licensed by the CBUAE regardless of the technology it uses.
The Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025 introduces sweeping reforms replacing the country’s Central Bank (CBUAE) framework. It brings virtual assets, DeFi protocols, stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, decentralized exchanges, wallets, bridges and all supporting blockchain infrastructure under the central bank’s authority.
Marina D’Angelo, head of Europe at DLT Law, an international regulatory and legal blockchain advisory, suggested it is still too soon to speculate how the new law will benefit the Gulf nation’s position as a global crypto hub.
“With the new federal law now in force the UAE has effectively redrawn the regulatory perimeter around digital assets,” D’Angelo told Coindesk. “How this ultimately plays out with regard to DeFi remains to be seen.”
The law aims to foster innovation by providing 60-day licensing decisions, risk-based capital rules, and a full one-year grace period (until September 2026) for existing players to become compliant, according to the text of the legislation.
New licensable categories include virtual asset payments, open finance and digital wallets. Stronger fraud protections, fast-track dispute resolution up to AED 100,000 and enhanced Shari’ah governance create a clear runway for Islamic DeFi and the increasingly popular tokenized Sukuk, traditional Islamic bonds issued and traded as blockchain tokens. Last year alone, global Sukuk issuances hit $65.6 billion and are projected to grow to $2.5 trillion by 2029.
While Europe’s MiCA is still rolling out, the UAE just delivered one of the world’s most comprehensive national frameworks that treats digital assets as a core part of the financial system.
