Coinbase — the largest US crypto exchange — has received a Financial Services Permission from FSRA inside Abu Dhabi Global Market and is launching an international hub for tokenising shares. Weeks after Mubadala Capital tokenised a private markets fund through Kaio, Abu Dhabi is turning into the global regulatory venue for tokenised securities — with dividends, voting rights and legal protection preserved for token holders.
What happened on 11 August 2026
Coinbase announced that its entity inside Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) had received a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) covering two regulated activities — arranging deals in investments and providing custody. On that basis, the largest US crypto exchange is rolling out an international hub for tokenising shares and other securities.
Coinbase also confirmed a two-hub regional strategy: Abu Dhabi becomes the global hub for tokenised securities (spot equities and on-chain capital markets), while Dubai is designated as the derivatives hub. That split reflects the regulatory specialisation of the two emirates: ADGM has historically led on institutional finance, while Dubai VARA leads on retail crypto and derivatives.
What the FSP licence allows
The FSP from ADGM FSRA is the core authorising document that grants a licensed entity the right to provide regulated financial services inside the ADGM jurisdiction (common-law framework, akin to the City of London and DIFC). Coinbase ADGM is now able to: register and issue tokenised securities under FSRA supervision; arrange deals in those tokens (connecting investors and issuers, running primary placement and secondary trading); provide custody — safekeeping of clients' digital assets under conditions equivalent to those imposed on traditional custodian banks.
Core principle: tokenised ADGM shares are fully backed by the underlying stock (1:1) and remain under FSRA supervision. That distinguishes them from 'synthetic' tokens and derivatives that lack a real underlying asset. Each issuance comes with a prospectus disclosing holder rights, vesting and redemption conditions — the timing at which certain rights vest and the mechanics of converting back to a conventional share.
How a tokenised share works
Under ADGM rules, every token issued is a digital mirror of a real share. The token holder receives shareholder rights as set out in the prospectus: dividends, voting rights at shareholder meetings (where applicable) and other economic benefits.
According to Brett Tejpaul, co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, no major financial centre has previously built a framework that treats tokenised equities simultaneously as securities, as native blockchain tokens and as DeFi-composable assets. In his view, ADGM closes that gap: the emirate already has a 2018 virtual-assets framework and an institutional approach to regulation.
From the investor angle, the most tangible change is wallet access instead of a broker. A verified wallet is enough to hold and transfer the token on-chain; issuer and custodian run real-time sanctions and AML screening on transactions. Redemption (moving back into a conventional share) typically still requires a broker — Coinbase highlights that option separately in its risk disclosures.
Why Abu Dhabi, not New York or Dubai
Coinbase makes an explicit point: ADGM is the only jurisdiction in the world where regulation simultaneously treats tokenised equities as securities, as blockchain tokens and as DeFi-composable assets. Neither the United States nor the European Union has yet authorised that combination; the SEC pursues major players through enforcement, and the EU MiCA framework does not cover equities.
The second factor is Abu Dhabi infrastructure. ADGM has been building virtual-assets rules since 2018 and in 2026 accepted Tether XAU (gold tokens) as an Accepted Spot Commodity. In July 2026 Mubadala Capital tokenised its private markets fund through ADGM-regulated Kaio, and Coinbase itself bought the fund token onto its corporate treasury — meaning the exchange has already stress-tested the regulatory mechanics in a live transaction.
Dubai is not losing out in this architecture — it hosts Coinbase's derivatives hub, and the Dubai VARA licence remains the primary regime for retail crypto services and exchanges. ADGM and VARA are not competitors but two complementary regimes serving different market segments.
What it means for investors and businesses in the UAE
For retail investors in the UAE and the region — direct access to international shares via a crypto wallet, without opening a brokerage account in the United States or Europe (subject to identity verification and KYC/AML). The token pays dividends, carries voting rights, fractionalises to any portion of a share (fractional shares), trades 24/7 and moves peer-to-peer. That radically lowers the entry barrier to the securities market for expats and entrepreneurs in the Emirates.
For businesses, this is a new capitalisation tool. A company registered in ADGM can issue its shares directly in tokenised form, reach a global retail investor base and embed corporate rights (voting, dividends) into a smart contract. Coinbase's hub removes the main obstacle — regulatory uncertainty. All of this comes as UAE business regulation in 2026 keeps broadening: the country is becoming the number-one venue for hybrid financial products that bridge traditional finance and blockchain.
For the ecosystem the story matters: Coinbase is a listed US company and the world's largest crypto exchange. Its choice of Abu Dhabi confirms that the UAE is moving out of the 'regulatory sandbox' category into the 'reference jurisdiction' category for major tokenisation players. That creates a multiplier effect: after Coinbase it is logical to expect local subsidiaries from other tokenisation platforms (Kraken, Bitpanda, Fireblocks) and the launch of tokenised ETFs and tokenised bonds on the ADGM Securities Exchange.
