On March 5 2026, Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority issued a market alert against Kucoin Exchange and related entities operating under the Kucoin brand, citing unlicensed virtual asset services offered to Dubai residents. The regulator ordered Kucoin to cease all unauthorized crypto activities in or from Dubai and warned that unlicensed providers could expose consumers to financial and legal risks. Kucoin had previously obtained a MiCAR license in Austria in early 2026, but in February 2026 the Austrian Financial Market Authority barred KuCoin EU from onboarding new business over anti-money laundering compliance breaches.

Ondo Finance has listed 10 Ondo Global Markets digital securities for trading on Binance’s Multilateral Trading Facility regulated by the FSRA in Abu Dhabi’s ADGM. The offering includes tokenized exposure to companies such as Apple, Alphabet, Tesla and Circle, and follows prior approvals to distribute Ondo digital securities across the EU and EEA.

On February 17 2026, UAE- and Saudi-based digital real estate investment platform Stake closed a $31 million Series B funding round led by Emirates NBD, bringing its total raised capital to $58 million. The company plans to channel the new funds into AI, tokenization initiatives and new products, while expanding in Saudi Arabia and participating in the country's property tokenization sandbox.

On February 12, 2026, the Central Bank of the UAE approved First Abu Dhabi Bank's AED-backed stablecoin, DDSC, which is now live on the ADI Foundation's Layer 2 ADI Chain. The token is intended for institutional and government use in payments, collections, settlements, treasury operations, and programmable financial services, alongside other previously approved AED and USD stablecoins in the country.

Dubai Land Department will launch a secondary market for tokenized real estate on February 20, 2026, enabling resale of about 7.8 million tokens under a controlled pilot. The program aims to test market efficiency, operational readiness, and investor safeguards within a regulated model. DLD signaled continued coordination with VARA and future platform integrations.

According to a recent RWA.XYZ analysis, tokenized real estate across 10 countries reached $356.2 million over the past 30 days, with more than 10,000 holders owning 57 assets. The UAE leads by number of tokenized real estate assets with 23 properties worth $129 million, while the USA leads by value with $145 million across 10 assets. Mantra Chain has tokenized $117.7 million of real estate, ahead of Base at $81.5 million and Stellar at $71.7 million, as the broader tokenized real estate market remains small compared with stablecoins and U.S. Treasuries.

As of February 5, 2026, Swiss private bank Maerki Baumann & Co. Ltd. is regulated in the UAE by the FSRA of ADGM, according to a press release. Its Abu Dhabi Middle East Hub, operating under the ARCHIP brand, will provide liquidity management, trading, custody, staking, and other digital asset services to blockchain and crypto firms.

On February 2 2026, the UAE federal government formally recognized MBank's regulated AED stablecoin AE Coin for the payment of government service fees. Individuals and businesses will be able to use AE Coin and the AEC Wallet across federal ministries, supported by MOUs with several UAE banks and Network International. Separately, ADGM-regulated Universal Digital Intl Limited introduced the fully USD-backed USDU stablecoin as a foreign payment token, which cannot be used for UAE domestic payments.

On January 7 2026, RAK BANK said it had obtained in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to develop an AED-backed stablecoin, pending completion of regulatory and operational conditions. The bank plans a 1:1 AED-pegged token with audited smart contracts and real-time reserve attestations, while other UAE institutions such as FAB Bank, Crypto.com and Al Maryah Community Bank are also advancing their own AED stablecoin initiatives.