UAE Central Bank Approves FAB’s DDSC as Fourth AED Stablecoin
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has approved DDSC, the UAE dirham-backed stablecoin issued by First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), to go live — marking a new step in the country’s regulated digital payments framework.
With federal approval secured, DDSC now enters operational deployment, positioning FAB among the institutions embedding programmable dirham liquidity into the UAE’s financial system.
The Fourth AED-Backed Stablecoin in the UAE
DDSC becomes the fourth UAE dirham-backed stablecoin initiative, following:
- AE Coin
- Zand AED of Zand Bank
- RAKBANK stablecoin
The emergence of multiple federally aligned dirham-backed instruments signals that the UAE’s stablecoin landscape is evolving into a structured institutional layer rather than remaining experimental.
DDSC stands out not simply because of its approval, but because it is being deployed directly by the UAE’s largest bank and built for institutional-grade settlement from inception.
ADI Chain Becomes Operational Reality
DDSC will operate on ADI Chain, developed by the Abu Dhabi-based ADI Foundation.
For months, ADI Chain had been positioned as sovereign-grade blockchain architecture designed for governance, scalability, and regulatory compliance. With a Central Bank-approved stablecoin now running on it, the network moves into operational reality.
That shift may prove as significant as the stablecoin itself.
Infrastructure that hosts a federally approved digital financial instrument becomes immediately relevant to banks, corporates, and regulated entities seeking compliant on-chain settlement rails.
DDSC is the first AED-backed stablecoin in the UAE to launch directly on an institutional-grade Layer-2 architecture purpose-built for regulated participation.
Institutional Deployment from Day One
Institutional Deployment from Day One
DDSC is positioned for institutional and government-aligned use cases, including payments, high-value settlement, treasury operations, trade flows, and programmable financial services.
Commenting on the approval, Syed Basar Shueb, CEO of IHC, said: “DDSC marks a defining milestone in the UAE’s digital finance journey. With the Central Bank’s approval and our transition into live operation, we are delivering trusted, institutional-grade infrastructure that strengthens resilience, accelerates innovation, and expands what is possible in regulated digital payments. As a UAE dirham-backed, programmable stablecoin, DDSC is designed to modernize payments, settlement, and treasury workflows, while enabling secure, automated value transfer, including future machine-to-machine transactions and trade between AI agents as the autonomous economy evolves.”
From the banking side, Futoon Hamdan AlMazrouei, Group Head of Personal, Business, Wealth and Privileged Client Banking Group at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), added: “This milestone underscores that stablecoins can be integrated responsibly into the financial system when built to meet rigorous regulatory and risk requirements. As the UAE’s global bank, FAB is enabling DDSC to seamlessly combine regulatory oversight with blockchain infrastructure, providing secure, scalable solutions that support institutional and government clients across the UAE’s evolving digital economy.”
Ajay Hans Raj Bhatia, Group CEO of Sirius International Holding, commented: “With DDSC now live, we are entering a new phase of regulated digital finance. Sirius is proud to support this national initiative by helping accelerate adoption and unlock real-world institutional applications, enabled by ADI’s sovereign blockchain infrastructure and underpinned by the UAE’s clear regulatory leadership.”
The initiative builds on the stablecoin project first announced in April 2025 by FAB and IHC, with Sirius supporting deployment and integration.
Although approved to go live, DDSC is expected to follow a structured operational rollout phase, including systems integration and onboarding processes, similar to other federally aligned stablecoin initiatives in the UAE.
Interoperability Will Define the Next Layer
While the announcement centers on institutional deployment within the UAE, a strategic question now emerges: interoperability.
A global institution such as FAB is unlikely to deploy a dirham-backed stablecoin solely for internal or closed-loop applications. For DDSC to function as a meaningful liquidity instrument across trade and treasury environments, integration with other blockchain ecosystems — and potentially on-chain swap capabilities with major regulated stablecoins such as USDC and USD1 — would become structurally important.
The current announcement does not explicitly reference cross-chain functionality. However, as DDSC and its underlying infrastructure enter live operation, the ability to bridge or interact with other digital asset networks may determine the scale of its participation in regional and global flows.
A Shift Toward Execution
With four AED-backed stablecoin initiatives now active or in development, the UAE appears to be building layered programmable liquidity infrastructure across multiple institutional channels.
If earlier phases of the country’s blockchain strategy focused on regulatory clarity and licensing frameworks, the current phase reflects execution.
DDSC’s approval confirms that regulated dirham-based digital settlement is no longer theoretical. At the same time, the activation of institutional blockchain infrastructure signals that sovereign-grade digital finance in the UAE is entering an operational era.
