Ripple Scores Dubai Regulatory Win—Why TradFi Should Be Nervous
Dubai’s Financial Services Authority just greenlit Ripple’s USD-backed stablecoin—and the timing couldn’t be more savage. While legacy banks still argue about SWIFT upgrades, XRP’s institutional on-ramp just got a desert oasis.
The sandbox is now a skyscraper. This isn’t just another crypto approval—it’s a direct pipeline between Emirati megafunds and blockchain liquidity. Watch how fast ‘too risky’ becomes ‘strategic partnership’ when oil money starts flowing.
Of course, the usual suspects will call it ‘regulation capture.’ Meanwhile, Ripple’s lawyers are probably popping champagne with one hand and drafting the next compliance filing with the other. Game recognizes game.
Ripple Expands In UAE With RLUSD Approval
The DFSA’s recognised-token list, introduced in late 2022 with bitcoin, ether and litecoin, was expanded two years ago to include Toncoin and XRP. RLUSD now joins that small cohort, underscoring the regulator’s policy of adding tokens only after a rigorous due-diligence process that examines reserve composition, governance and consumer-protection measures.
Issued by Ripple Markets NY-DFS LLC, RLUSD is backed one-for-one by short-dated US Treasuries, cash and cash equivalents held in segregated accounts, with monthly attestation reports and the right of same-day fiat redemption. Those safeguards replicate the standards required by New York’s trust-charter regime—still regarded by many compliance officers as the most demanding in the stablecoin sector.
“The DFSA’s approval of RLUSD is proof of our commitment to building a stablecoin that meets the highest standards of trust, transparency and utility,” said Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice-president for stablecoins. He added that the token “is uniquely positioned to drive institutional use of blockchain technology across global markets, starting with cross-border payments.”
Recognition allows Ripple to plug RLUSD directly into its DFSA-licensed Ripple Payments platform, giving banks and fintechs a dollar-settlement option alongside XRP for on-chain transfers. Two inaugural DIFC clients—Zand Bank, the UAE’s first all-digital bank, and fintech firm Mamo—have already gone live on the service, which offers 24-hour settlement into more than 90 payout corridors.
The green light also opens RLUSD to other DFSA-regulated virtual-asset firms inside the centre’s 7000-strong financial ecosystem. Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for the Middle East and Africa, described demand as “huge,” citing corporate treasury desks, exchanges and custody providers that require a compliant on-chain dollar. “The UAE’s digital economy is vibrant and incredibly dynamic, and we’re looking forward to working with our regional partners, customers and regulators to supercharge that growth,” he said.
Stablecoin usage in the Emirates has been climbing sharply. Chainalysis estimates that dollar-pegged tokens accounted for more than half of all crypto flows into UAE-based services in 2024, with the value of stablecoin transactions rising 55 percent year-on-year to roughly $9.8 billion. Those figures outpaced both Bitcoin and ether volumes and reflect the country’s $400 billion-plus trade footprint and its appetite for faster settlement rails.
By adding RLUSD to the recognised-token roster, the DFSA strengthens Dubai’s pitch as a jurisdiction where global trade businesses can settle in tokenized dollars without regulatory ambiguity. The MOVE also dovetails with the emirate’s high-profile experiments on the XRP Ledger: last week the Dubai Land Department and tokenization firm Ctrl Alt began pilot transfers of property title deeds on the network as part of a planned $16 billion real-estate fractionalisation initiative.
At press time, XRP traded at $2.22.
