Coinbase has established its Coinbase Abu Dhabi tokenization hub at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), with tokenized securities fully backed by underlying shares and verified token holders receiving full shareholder rights, including dividends and voting, under supervision of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).
The US-listed crypto exchange has been granted a licence to arrange investment deals and provide custody for tokenized securities from the emirate’s financial centre.
Custody means safely holding and managing digital ownership records for assets, which is designed to give institutional investors confidence in the system.
Coinbase Abu Dhabi tokenization hub: what the licence covers
Tokenization is gaining momentum across traditional finance globally, with major asset managers and banks moving funds, bonds, private credit and equities onto blockchain infrastructure.
ADGM introduced one of the world’s first comprehensive virtual asset regulatory frameworks in 2018 and has since attracted a wave of crypto and tokenization firms seeking a regulated base in the region. More than 20 firms now hold active virtual asset licences there.
In December 2024, Crypto.news reported that Project Diamond had integrated Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, giving institutions access to cross-chain connectivity and verifiable data for tokenized assets issued under the ADGM framework.
In December last year, ADGM also granted Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, a licence to operate from the financial centre. CoinMarketCap’s June 2026 data shows Binance’s trading volume stood at $4.74 trillion, equivalent to 39.5% of trading volume across the 11 exchanges it tracks.
Industry voices back UAE’s regulatory depth
Adam Popat, CEO of SettleMint, which helps regulated institutions design, issue and manage digital assets, said Coinbase’s decision carries weight beyond the emirate.
‘Coinbase locating its international tokenisation hub in ADGM is the kind of licence that turns tokenized securities from a pilot into a market,’ Popat told Fortune. ‘When a listed U.S. exchange chooses Abu Dhabi for that work, it tells issuers and allocators that the UAE now has the regulatory depth to host global issuance, not only regional experiments.’
Popat relocated from London to the UAE last year to take up the CEO role after serving as SettleMint’s chief financial officer. Prior to that, he led Standard Chartered’s adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology.
‘I would say the UAE is one of the leading lights when it comes to tokenization, not just in this region, but globally,’ he said. ‘It was very obvious to us that this region was going to be one of the key drivers of the adoption of this technology.’
He highlighted the GCC’s national-scale programmes to digitise the economy, deep capital pools and a collaborative regulatory environment as key factors. SettleMint is currently in talks with all the large banks in the UAE, which are exploring and progressing initiatives around tokenizing equities, funds, bonds and deposits, according to Popat. Tokenization of gold is ‘a very active conversation’ the company is also having with several partners, he added.
In May, SettleMint signed a strategic partnership with ADI Foundation to develop digital asset lifestyle infrastructure on ADI Chain, the Foundation’s institutional blockchain, supporting the tokenization of securities under the ADGM’s regulatory framework. ADI Foundation is an Abu Dhabi-based organisation aiming to bring one billion people into the digital economy by 2030.
In July, ADI Foundation announced that ADI Chain had secured a $50 million strategic investment to support international expansion across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth arm is also involved. Mubadala Capital tokenized one of its private-market investment strategies through UAE-based infrastructure provider KAIO on blockchain including Base, with Coinbase also taking an exposure to the fund.
Across the region, Saudi Arabia completed its first sovereign-native tokenized title-deed transfer in early 2026, while the Qatar Financial Centre is taking steps to enable real estate tokenization.
Global consulting firm Kearney estimated in a January report that by 2030, close to $500 billion in assets across the GCC could be represented on blockchain, with private markets representing the largest single opportunity at an estimated $154 billion in market size.
‘This suggests a fundamental shift in market dynamics, and explains why governments, financial institutions, and asset managers are beefing up their digital asset strategies,’ Kearney said.
The full scope of Coinbase’s ADGM licence, including custody arrangements for tokenized securities, is set out on the Coinbase blog.
