Coinbase Wins Abu Dhabi Approval to Launch Tokenised Securities Hub

Approval and Scope

Coinbase has won regulatory clearance to build an international hub for tokenised securities in Abu Dhabi. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market granted the company a Financial Services Permission that covers arranging investment transactions and custodying digital representations of traditional equities.

The license lets Coinbase facilitate issuance and trading of securities that sit on a blockchain yet remain fully backed by underlying shares. According to the company, every tokenised equity registered in ADGM will correspond one-to-one with a real share held in reserve, and the FSRA will supervise the entire structure.

Holders of these tokenised shares retain core shareholder rights. They can vote on corporate matters, while any dividends declared by the issuer are automatically reinvested into additional tokens rather than paid out in cash. Redemption back into conventional shares depends on the terms in each prospectus; in many cases, investors who wish to exit into fiat will need a brokerage or bank account to receive the proceeds. Transactions that stay within the digital-securities ecosystem, however, require no traditional financial intermediary.

Compliance infrastructure runs at the wallet level. Every transfer undergoes ongoing sanctions screening, and regulators or the platform can freeze or seize assets directly in the wallet if a legal or compliance trigger arises.

Why Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Global Market published one of the earliest comprehensive rule-books for digital assets in 2018, years before most Western jurisdictions settled on a coherent approach. That head start has drawn exchanges, asset managers, and now tokenisation platforms looking for clarity on how blockchain-native instruments fit into securities law.

Brett Tejpaul, Co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, noted that ADGM's framework treats tokenised equities as securities, blockchain tokens, and composable DeFi instruments at the same time. He said no other major financial center has yet built regulation that acknowledges all three dimensions in a single rulebook, a feature that matters as institutional capital explores programmable finance.

The approval also signals Abu Dhabi's intent to compete with Singapore, Hong Kong, and London for tokenisation infrastructure. While those cities have issued policy papers or sandbox licenses, ADGM has moved to full operational permissions with explicit custody and dealing authority.

Broader Gulf Strategy

The Abu Dhabi hub joins a derivatives operation Coinbase already runs in Dubai, giving the company two regulated footholds in the United Arab Emirates. The derivatives arm offers futures and options to qualified investors, while the new ADGM entity will focus on equity tokens and the infrastructure to issue, trade, and settle them on-chain.

Together, the two licenses position Coinbase to serve institutional clients across both the speculative and capital-markets sides of crypto. Gulf sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and banks have shown appetite for exposure to digital assets but demand the legal certainty and recourse that come with onshore licensing.

Other global exchanges have pursued similar twin-hub strategies in the UAE. The regulatory split between Dubai and Abu Dhabi lets firms segment retail-facing derivatives from institutional capital-markets activity, each under a dedicated supervisor with distinct risk appetites.

What Comes Next

Coinbase has not disclosed a launch date for the tokenisation platform or named anchor issuers. The company will need to onboard corporate clients willing to register shares in ADGM and maintain the reserve accounts that back each token. It will also need to integrate FSRA reporting systems and build out the sanctions-screening and wallet-control technology required by the license.

Market observers expect the first issuances to come from companies already listed in Abu Dhabi or elsewhere in the Gulf, where management teams are familiar with ADGM's legal environment. Cross-border issuance, where a U.S. or European firm registers tokenised shares in Abu Dhabi for distribution to Asian or Middle Eastern investors, remains legally complex and will likely follow only after the domestic model proves itself.

The real test will be liquidity. Tokenised equities promise twenty-four-hour trading, instant settlement, and programmable corporate actions, but those benefits matter only if enough buyers and sellers show up. Coinbase's challenge in Abu Dhabi is not just regulatory or technical but also commercial: convincing issuers and investors that blockchain rails offer enough advantage over traditional bourses to justify the migration cost.