Stacks Asia Teams Up with Abu Dhabi’s Financial Hub to Supercharge Bitcoin Layer-2 Adoption

Abu Dhabi Global Market just got a crypto upgrade—Stacks Asia’s partnership injects Bitcoin L2 scalability into the Middle East’s most ambitious financial sandbox. Watch institutional money start pretending it ’gets’ decentralization now.

The FSA-regulated zone becomes a testing ground for Bitcoin smart contracts, proving even oil-rich economies want in on Web3—just don’t expect them to admit it’s about hedging against their own petrodollar decline.

Regional collaboration 

The Stacks Asia DLT Foundation plans to collaborate with regional partners to run education programs and support Bitcoin development. It will also work with policymakers to shape regulations around digital assets, Bitcoin utility, and yield products.

Ellicott said the foundation will use its base in ADGM to connect activities between Asia-Pacific and the UAE, with Hong Kong serving as a hub. The group will focus on promoting Bitcoin programmability and supporting innovation in Bitcoin DeFi applications.

The foundation also plans to build on the recent launch of sBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset on the Stacks mainnet. 

sBTC allows users to participate in decentralized finance activities like lending and trading while keeping Bitcoin’s security model.

Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei, CEO of ADGM Registration Authority, said Stacks’ registration shows the region’s growing role in digital assets and Bitcoin layer-2 development.

The move comes as interest in Bitcoin-based technologies continues to grow across Asia and the Middle East.