Dirham Stablecoin Race Widens As Rakbank Nets In-principle... Uae’s
RAKBank's in-principle nod from the Central Bank of the UAE to launch a dirham-backed stablecoin adds a homegrown bank to the UAE’s stablecoin race.
RAKBank is preparing to join the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) fast-evolving stablecoin ecosystem after receiving in-principle approval on Wednesday from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) to issue a UAE dirham-backed payment token.
In-principle approval means the CBUAE has agreed to RAKBank’s stablecoin plans subject to final regulatory and operational conditions, and the bank, already licensed and supervised by the CBUAE, must satisfy those before any live issuance.
In a Wednesday press release shared with Cointelegraph, the bank said the forthcoming stablecoin will be fully backed 1:1 by dirhams held in segregated, regulated accounts and governed by audited smart contracts with real-time reserve attestations.
The stablecoin push marks a new phase in RAKBank’s digital assets strategy, building on its 2025 move to let retail customers trade cryptocurrencies through a regulated brokerage partner.
Raheel Ahmed, group CEO of RAKBank, said that the in-principle approval from the CBUAE was an “important milestone” in the bank’s digital assets journey, and that it reflected RAKBank’s focus on “innovation that is responsible, regulated, and built on trust.”
The UAE has built out a multi-pillar digital assets framework, with the CBUAE, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and other agencies carving out rules for stablecoins, virtual asset service providers and tokenized financial products.
Within that landscape, dirham-referenced payment tokens are intended by policymakers to modernize domestic payments, support digital economy initiatives and improve the efficiency of cross-border flows in a remittance-heavy market.
Related: Why crypto millionaires are moving to the UAE (these 5 reasons explain everything)
The UAE’s stablecoin race is no longer limited to crypto-native firms and international issuers.
Source: CoinTelegraph
