Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has obtained a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from the Abu Dhabi Global Markets Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), authorizing the exchange to arrange investment transactions and provide custody services as it establishes its international tokenization hub at ADGM.
The license represents Coinbase’s most important move to date toward building onchain capital markets infrastructure outside the United States, positioning Abu Dhabi as a jurisdictional anchor for the company’s global tokenization strategy.
Under the FSRA-supervised framework, tokenized securities issued through the hub will be fully backed by underlying shares, with verified token holders receiving complete shareholder rights, including dividend entitlements and voting privileges. The model removes traditional barriers to entry: investors will not need a brokerage account or corresponding banking relationship, requiring only a digital wallet to participate.
At the same time, Coinbase noted that every transfer will be subject to continuous sanctions screening, and assets can be frozen or seized at the wallet level when legally required—an architecture designed to demonstrate that decentralized finance interoperability and regulatory integrity are not mutually exclusive.
Coinbase has established Abu Dhabi (ADGM) as our international tokenization hub.
— Coinbase
Our newly acquired FSRA license means that we can now bring global securities to anyone with a wallet.
The next frontier of global finance is onchain, and we're building it from the UAE. pic.twitter.com/nwPvHrWJYw(@coinbase) August 11, 2026
The announcement highlights ADGM’s early leadership in virtual asset regulation, having issued one of the world’s first frameworks in 2018. Coinbase leadership emphasized that no major financial center has yet constructed a regime treating tokenized equities simultaneously as securities, blockchain-native tokens, and DeFi-composable assets.
ADGM representatives characterized Coinbase’s decision as a strong endorsement of Abu Dhabi’s expanding influence in global finance, citing the jurisdiction’s internationally aligned standards as the foundation for responsible, scalable blockchain-enabled services.
The Abu Dhabi tokenization hub is one component of a broader United Arab Emirates commitment by Coinbase. Complementing a planned derivatives hub in Dubai, the initiative signals the exchange’s conviction that the UAE can serve as the primary jurisdiction for next-generation financial infrastructure.
Coinbase underscored that approximately four billion people worldwide remain excluded from capital markets not because they lack resources, but because legacy participation costs are prohibitively high. By issuing regulated, wallet-accessible securities onchain, the company aims to broaden investable access while preserving the oversight standards expected by global regulators and institutional participants.
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