The days of crypto staying locked inside trading screens may be over in the UAE. From petrol stations to postpaid phone plans, the country is quietly rewiring how everyday money moves. A recent joint report by the Abu Dhabi Blockchain Centre and Binance said the country has long crossed the experimentation stage and is now embedding blockchain-based payments into real-world transactions.
It all started taking shape in July 2024, when the Central Bank of the UAE introduced its Payment Token Services Regulation. The rules left little room for ambiguity: stablecoins must hold 100 percent reserve backing, they are out for payment use, and foreign currency stablecoins remain boxed inside licensed trading exchanges. In domestic commerce, the dirham holds its ground.
AE Coin Leads the Charge
The country’s first licensed AED-pegged stablecoin, AE Coin, received its clearance in October 2024 through DhStablecoin LLC and Al Maryah Community Bank. By December 2025, ADNOC Distribution had signed on to accept it at close to 980 service stations spread across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt (fuel pumps, convenience stores, and car washes are included in this). Shortly after, telecom operator e& UAE came on board to pilot AE Coin for phone bill settlements and digital recharges.
More companies are lining up. A consortium of International Holding Company, ADQ, and First Abu Dhabi Bank announced plans to issue their own dirham stablecoin, and Zand Bank got approval to launch a dirham-pegged token on public blockchains. Such competition is expected to lower costs and further drive adoption.
Your completely free resource hub designed to boost your knowledge of cryptocurrencies
The Digital Dirham Runs Alongside
December 2025 also saw the Central Bank roll out the retail phase of its Digital Dirham. Rather than crowding out private stablecoins, the government built it to work beside them. Plans are already in place to eventually link the Digital Dirham with licensed stablecoins, creating one consistent settlement layer across both public and private payment channels.
The numbers behind all these measures tell their own story. As per the recent report, domestic payment systems handled over Dh20 trillion in transfers in just the first ten months of 2025, and the UAE sits among the world’s biggest sources of outbound remittances. Speed, reliability, and regulatory compliance were never going to be optional here. What the country is building now is a payments landscape where digital dirhams become something people use without thinking twice.
