The UAE is stepping up its digital finance ambitions as a new aed stablecoin gains regulatory approval and goes live on local blockchain infrastructure.
DDSC AED stablecoin by First Abu Dhabi Bank goes live
The Central Bank of the UAE has formally approved First Abu Dhabi Bank‘s DDSC, an AED-pegged stablecoin now live on $ADI Chain, the Layer 2 blockchain built by the $ADI Foundation. Moreover, this launch on a dedicated institutional network underscores the country’s push toward blockchain-based financial infrastructure in 2024.
The announcement came jointly from IHC, Sirius International Holding, and First Abu Dhabi Bank. The new token will be deployed across institutions and government entities for payments and collections, settlements, treasury operations, trade and supply chain flows, and programmable financial services tailored to regulated entities.
According to the partners, DDSC will be rolled out to FAB customers through multiple approved platforms. However, the focus will remain on institutional and government-grade use cases rather than retail speculation, positioning the asset as core plumbing for the UAE’s financial system.
Strategic role of DDSC in regulated digital payments
Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of IHC, described the launch of DDSC as a defining milestone in the UAE’s digital finance journey. In his view, the stablecoin expands what is possible in regulated digital payments by anchoring innovation to a dirham-backed, supervised asset.
Project stakeholders emphasize that, as a UAE dirham-backed programmable token, DDSC aims to modernize payments, settlement, and treasury workflows. Moreover, the design targets secure, automated value transfer, including potential future machine-to-machine transactions and trade between AI agents as an autonomous economy emerges.
Futoon Hamdan AlMazrouei, Group Head of Personal, Business, Wealth, and Privileged Client Banking Group at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), said stablecoins can be integrated responsibly into the financial system when built to meet rigorous regulatory and risk standards. That said, she stressed that FAB’s role is to pair strict oversight with modern blockchain rails.
AlMazrouei added that, as the UAE’s global bank, FAB is enabling DDSC to combine regulatory supervision with blockchain infrastructure. This approach aims to deliver secure, scalable solutions that support institutional and government clients across the UAE’s evolving digital economy.
Integration with $ADI Chain and institutional infrastructure
$ADI CEO Andrey Lazorenko confirmed that the DDSC AED stablecoin is now fully live and operating on the $ADI Chain. He argued this is proof that $ADI’s infrastructure is designed for real economies, real institutions, and real utility, not just experimental pilots.
With two leading institutions, IHC and First Abu Dhabi Bank, driving the initiative under the oversight of the Central Bank of the UAE, the ddsc aed stablecoin is now running on compliant, sovereign-grade rails. Moreover, this positioning aligns $ADI Chain as an institutional network tailored to regulated finance rather than open retail speculation.
The $ADI Chain implementation also highlights the rise of institutional blockchain payments in the Gulf region. However, specific technical details like throughput, interoperability, and governance have not yet been disclosed publicly, leaving room for future updates from $ADI and its partners.
The broader landscape of AED stablecoin approvals
The aed stablecoin approved for DDSC joins a growing list of dirham-pegged tokens sanctioned by the Central Bank of the UAE. The first such asset to secure approval was AECoin, launched by Al Maryah Community Bank, widely known as Mbank, marking an early move into tokenized dirham liquidity.
Alongside AECoin, Zand Bank has obtained a license for AEDZ, described as the UAE’s first regulated multi-chain AED-backed stablecoin operating on public blockchains. Moreover, this multi-chain design signals a willingness to bridge institutional use with broader Web3 ecosystems.
Recently, 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”), is the issuer behind this token framework.
Universal has launched both a fiat reference token for professional clients and a foreign payment token issuer structure with the Central Bank of the UAE. The fully USD-backed stablecoin USDU, registered as a foreign payment token, can be used for domestic payment involving digital assets and digital asset derivatives.
In parallel, RAK Bank has received in-principle approval for its own AED-pegged stablecoin, further expanding the pipeline of dirham-based digital currencies. However, a full launch will depend on final regulatory clearances and technical implementation details.
Tether’s announced AED stablecoin and open questions
In 2024, Tether was the first major global stablecoin issuer to announce plans for an AED-linked asset on the TON Network. That said, despite the early announcement, no actual product launch has materialized so far from this initiative.
This gap between announcement and deployment contrasts with the UAE’s domestically driven projects, which already have concrete regulatory backing. Moreover, local banks and institutions appear to be taking the lead in building dirham-based infrastructure with clear uae central bank approval, instead of waiting for offshore issuers.
Together, these developments highlight a strategic shift in the UAE toward domestically anchored, fully regulated digital currencies. In summary, the rollout of DDSC and other AED-pegged tokens shows the country is rapidly building a compliant, blockchain-enabled payments ecosystem around its national currency.
