The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has granted approval for the DDSC, an AED (UAE Dirham)-backed stablecoin issued by First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). The stablecoin is now live and operational on the ADI Chain, a Layer 2 blockchain developed by the ADI Foundation.
The announcement was made jointly by International Holding Company (IHC), Sirius International Holding, and First Abu Dhabi Bank. The DDSC stablecoin is designed for use by institutions and government entities for a range of financial operations, including payments, collections, settlements, treasury operations, and programmable financial services. FAB plans to make DDSC available to its customers through multiple approved platforms.
Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of IHC, called the launch "a defining milestone in the UAE’s digital finance journey," stating it will expand possibilities in regulated digital payments. He emphasized that as a programmable stablecoin, DDSC is built to modernize payment and settlement workflows and enable secure, automated value transfers, including future machine-to-machine transactions.
Futoon Hamdan AlMazrouei, Group Head at FAB, highlighted the responsible integration of stablecoins into the financial system, noting that DDSC combines regulatory oversight with blockchain infrastructure to provide secure, scalable solutions for institutional and government clients.
This is not the first AED stablecoin approved by the UAE Central Bank. Previous approvals include AECoin by Al Maryah Community Bank (Mbank) and AEDZ by Zand Bank. The regulator has also approved a USD-backed stablecoin, USDU, for use as a foreign payment token. Furthermore, RAK Bank has received in-principle approval for its own AED stablecoin.
The launch is backed by significant institutional weight. IHC has a market capitalization of approximately $240 billion, while FAB manages around $330 billion in assets and controls an estimated 33% of the UAE banking market. The stablecoin's potential integration with major global payment networks like Mastercard and M-Pesa could significantly expand its real-world utility beyond the UAE.
The move is strategically significant given the UAE's substantial financial flows, which include roughly $45 billion in annual remittances and $1.42 trillion in foreign trade. Even a small percentage of this activity migrating to on-chain settlements could generate substantial transaction demand within the ADI ecosystem.
