In a move that puts the UAE firmly at the forefront of global digital finance, Dubai-based Zand Bank has deepened its partnership with Ripple, the San Francisco blockchain giant best known for revolutionizing cross-border payments. The collaboration focuses on two stablecoins—Zand’s AEDZ (a digital dirham) and Ripple’s RLUSD (a digital US dollar)—to create faster, cheaper, and more efficient ways to move money in the digital age. The partnership aims to bring traditional banking closer to blockchain technology, making daily transactions much faster and seamless for businesses and individuals.
Together, the two institutions plan to:
- Enable fast-pace conversions between AEDZ and RLUSD
- Offer almost instant cross-border settlements
- Give secure custody services for digital assets
- Improve liquidity management for corporate clients
The process will be simple: a user deposits real dirhams or dollars into a Zand Bank account (or partner app), and they instantly give you the same amount in digital stablecoins (AEDZ or RLUSD) in the user’s digital wallet.
Your completely free resource hub designed to boost your knowledge of cryptocurrencies
To send money abroad, the user simply transfers those stablecoins directly to the receiver’s wallet over Ripple’s fast blockchain—it happens in seconds. The receiver then swaps the stablecoins back into fiat money at their bank.
Why This Matters to People in the UAE
For residents and businesses in Dubai and other Emirates, this could translate into many benefits. The UAE handles massive volumes of international transfers, such as remittances from expats, trade payments, and tourism spending. But these are often very slow and also mean paying high transfer fees.
Stablecoins like AEDZ and RLUSD will help cut the costs while giving the benefits of traditional money. Because both are fully backed and regulated, they will not face the price swings seen in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Businesses can settle invoices faster, expats can send money to their home country more cheaply, and banks can offer modern services without taking on much risk.
The partnership again shows the UAE’s strong position as a crypto hub. Moves like this show the UAE is serious about making a safe and innovative digital economy.
Such collaborations between more local banks and global players like Ripple could make the UAE one of the easiest places in the world to use digital money in everyday life.
