Coinbase has received regulatory approval in Abu Dhabi to launch an international hub for tokenized securities. The approval allows the exchange to arrange investment deals and provide custody services for the new products.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) granted Coinbase a Financial Services Permission, placing the company inside the jurisdiction's regulated financial system. Securities issued through this framework will be backed by underlying shares and supervised directly by the FSRA.
Investors with verified accounts will receive economic rights tied to the assets, while certain shareholder rights, including voting, will depend on vesting conditions attached to the tokens. Users will be able to hold these products in digital wallets without needing a traditional brokerage account or banking relationship to make transactions. Coinbase stated that all transfers remain subject to sanctions screening, and assets can be frozen or seized at the wallet level if required. The approval was announced on August 11.
Building on Project Diamond
Abu Dhabi was already part of Coinbase's tokenization plans prior to this approval. The company previously launched Project Diamond as a platform for issuing blockchain-based financial instruments, which received in-principle approval from ADGM regulators. Its first product was a short-term discount note issued in USDC on Coinbase's Base blockchain. In December 2024, the platform integrated Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol to provide institutions with cross-chain connectivity and verified data for tokenized assets.
Coinbase Institutional co-CEO Brett Tejpaul noted that ADGM's 2018 virtual asset framework was a primary reason for selecting the jurisdiction, pointing out its approach to treating tokenized equities as securities, blockchain tokens, and decentralized finance assets simultaneously.
Broader Activity in Abu Dhabi
Coinbase is joined by other firms offering blockchain-based investment products in the region. Ondo Finance received approval in March for tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds structured as equity-linked notes, providing exposure to companies such as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla. Additionally, BNY launched Bitcoin and Ether custody services in ADGM in May with plans to support tokenized assets and stablecoins.
Outside of Abu Dhabi, Coinbase rolled out tokenized shares in June linked to SpaceX, Nvidia, Google, Strategy, and Bitmine, backed on a one-to-one basis. The new Abu Dhabi hub forms part of a wider expansion across the United Arab Emirates, which includes building a derivatives business separately out of Dubai.
Consulting firm Kearney and tokenization company Ctrl Alt estimate that tokenized real-world assets across the Gulf Cooperation Council could approach $500 billion by 2030, driven largely by private markets, investment funds, and bank deposits.
