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US-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has received a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), the regulator of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), clearing it to establish what it describes as its international tokenisation hub in the emirate.
The permission covers two regulated activities, arranging deals in investments and providing custody, and gives Coinbase a regulated base in the UAE from which to develop tokenised securities. Coinbase announced the approval on 11 August, with wider newswire distribution following on 13 August.
What the permission allows
The tokenised securities registered and issued in ADGM are backed by the underlying shares under FSRA supervision, with verified token holders receiving shareholder rights including dividends and voting. Coinbase says an investor does not need a brokerage account or a correspondent banking relationship, only a wallet, and that every transfer is subject to ongoing sanctions screening, with the ability to freeze or seize assets at wallet level where required.
Two qualifications are worth noting for anyone assessing the model. The rights attached to individual instruments depend on each instrument's documentation, and certain rights can be subject to vesting conditions, while some redemption processes may still require access to conventional banking or brokerage infrastructure. The first product is the Apple CB Certificate, a tokenised certificate over AAPL shares whose prospectus the FSRA approved on 4 August 2026. No launch date has been set, and the hub is aimed at eligible non-US investors in approved jurisdictions.
"ADGM issued one of the world's first regulatory frameworks for virtual assets in 2018. That reflected a genuine institutional commitment to innovation-forward regulation, executed with the rigor that global financial markets require. No major financial center has yet built a framework that treats tokenized equities simultaneously as securities, blockchain-native tokens, and DeFi-composable assets," - Brett Tejpaul, Co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional.
"Coinbase's establishment of its international tokenisation hub in ADGM is a strong endorsement of Abu Dhabi's growing role in shaping the future of global finance. As tokenisation becomes an increasingly important part of capital markets infrastructure, ADGM remains committed to supporting innovation that enhances market access, transparency and investor confidence, while upholding the highest standards of regulatory oversight." - Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief Market Development Officer, ADGM
The FSRA introduced one of the world's first comprehensive virtual asset regulatory frameworks in 2018, and in March 2026 updated its guidance to explicitly address tokenised securities and DeFi, including a licence category for DeFi protocol operators.
ADGM is a financial free zone on Al Maryah and Al Reem islands operating under a legal framework based on English common law, with its own courts and its own regulator. An FSRA licence applies within the ADGM free zone rather than across the UAE, and does not passport into Dubai, which operates under the separate Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) framework
Coinbase is running two builds in the region, the tokenised securities and onchain capital markets hub in Abu Dhabi and a derivatives hub in Dubai. That second leg moved on the same day the tokenisation release circulated. Crypto options exchange Deribit, owned by Coinbase, received a Broker-Dealer Licence from VARA, allowing spot orders to be routed to Coinbase Exchange, with assets acquired through the upgraded spot service usable as collateral for derivatives positions subject to regulatory approval. Deribit has run its global headquarters from Dubai under VARA supervision since the start of 2025.
The UAE presence is not new. Coinbase launched Project Diamond, a platform for institutional issuance and trading of digital debt instruments on Base under Abu Dhabi regulatory oversight, in December 2023.
Elsewhere, Coinbase said on 11 August it plans to give eligible UK professional investors access to more than 170 derivatives contracts including perpetuals, dated futures and crypto options, and has separately expanded its UK stock trading offering.
The SEC approved Nasdaq's framework for certain stocks and ETFs to trade and settle as blockchain-based tokens alongside traditional shares on 18 March 2026, with Nasdaq working with Kraken to distribute tokenised stocks globally and ICE investing in OKX alongside its own competing platform. Robinhood has expanded its European token catalogue from just over 200 at launch to more than 2,000, rebranded as Classic Stock Tokens, with a one euro minimum.
The tokenised stock spot market reached $487 million by the end of Q1 2026 on CoinGecko's figures, and as of May 2026 only around $2.47 billion of the $30 billion-plus tokenised real-world asset market was active inside DeFi protocols, with the remainder held as registered tokens that cannot move through open onchain venues.
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