Update June 4, 9:42 am UTC: This article has been updated to add comments from a Ripple spokesperson.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the financial regulator in charge of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has approved Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.
Following the approval, DIFC companies can now use the RLUSD stablecoin for various virtual asset services. These may include payments, treasury management and services.
The DIFC is a free economic zone and financial district that serves companies throughout the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The financial zone had nearly 7,000 registered businesses by the end of 2024.
Under the DIFC’s crypto framework, only tokens recognized by the DFSA may be used across the district’s regulated ecosystem.
Ripple sees “huge interest” from UAE businesses
Ripple said businesses in the UAE are growing increasingly interested in crypto solutions. “The UAE’s digital economy is vibrant and incredibly dynamic,” said Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for the Middle East and Africa.
“We’re seeing huge interest from businesses of all sizes for cross-border payments and digital asset custody solutions,” Merrick added.
Ripple said it is working with several local partners, including digital bank Zand and fintech platform Mamo, which are expected to be early adopters of the company’s regulated payment services.
In addition, Ripple said RLUSD will support the Dubai Land Department’s real estate tokenization initiative. The company said the project will record title deeds on the XRP Ledger.
On March 19, the Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced that it had started the pilot phase of its real-estate tokenization project. The project aims to be a registration entity implementing blockchain-based tokenization on property title deeds.
Crypto complements traditional finance solutions
When asked how stablecoins would compete with traditional financial systems, a Ripple spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company sees blockchain and crypto as complementary to fiat systems.
However, the spokesperson added that traditional rails are not built for the real-time, global economy. The spokesperson said that this is where stablecoins play a role.
“Enterprise-grade, regulated stablecoins like RLUSD offer businesses a faster, cheaper, and more transparent alternative to traditional rails,” the spokesperson told Cointelegraph. “This is particularly true in markets where fiat liquidity is limited.”
Ripple emphasized that for adoption to scale, usability must match innovation. “Our customers don’t want to become crypto experts, they just want solutions that work,” the spokesperson added.
Related: Dubai gov’t agencies to link real estate registry with property tokenization
Ripple expands global operations
The RLUSD stablecoin approval follows Ripple’s recent DFSA licensing. On March 13, the company said it had received a full license to operate in the DIFC.
RLUSD is among the few stablecoins globally approved under the DFSA’s crypto token regime and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Trust Company Charter. On Dec. 10, the NYDFS approved the stablecoin.
“RLUSD is issued under a NYDFS Trust Company Charter, which means this is our primary regulator,” the Ripple spokesperson told Cointelegraph, saying that the DFSA’s approval is a different form of regulatory oversight.
“It enables RLUSD to be integrated into virtual assets services by DFSA-licensed firms in the DIFC,” the spokesperson added.
Apart from the RLUSD stablecoin, the DFSA has recognized Circle-issued stablecoins USDC (USDC) and EURC (EURC) and approved their use in the DIFC free economic zone.
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