RAKBANK Wins Approval for AED Stablecoin as UAE’s Digital Dirham Skips 2025 Launch

Key Takeaways

• RAKBANK gains CBUAE in-principle support to contented a afloat AED-backed stablecoin for payments.

• Approval advances UAE’s private-sector integer concern amid rising regulated stablecoins.

• The integer Dirham CBDC rollout has been delayed, creating abstraction for banks similar RAKBANK to innovate.

As the UAE’s long-anticipated Digital Dirham softly slips past its archetypal motorboat window, backstage institutions are moving faster.

RAKBANK, 1 of the country’s oldest banks, is pressing up and has received regulatory support to motorboat an AED-backed stablecoin. 

RAKBANK’s in-principle approval from the CBUAE authorizes the slope to contented an AED-backed stablecoin nether the Payment Token Services Regulation. 

Raheel Ahmed, Group CEO of RAKBANK, said: 

“Receiving in-principle support from the Central Bank of the UAE is an important milestone successful our integer assets journey. It reflects our absorption connected innovation that is responsible, regulated and built connected trust. It is different measurement successful delivering banking that is integer with a quality touch.”

This “in-principle” presumption is simply a preliminary nod, taxable to fulfilling remaining regulatory and operational requirements earlier afloat launch.

Key features of the projected stablecoin include:

• 1:1 Backing: Fully backed by AED reserves held successful segregated, regulated accounts to guarantee stableness and redeemability.

• Transparency and Compliance: Reserves volition beryllium taxable to autarkic audits, with real-time attestations via astute contracts, aligning with CBUAE’s accent connected hazard absorption and user protection.

• Use Cases: Designed for integer payments, tokenization of assets, and cross-border settlements, perchance integrating with RAKBANK’s existing crypto trading level for retail access.

This makes RAKBANK the latest successful a bid of UAE institutions to task into stablecoins, pursuing approvals for entities similar Zand Bank (Zand AED successful November 2025) and AED Stablecoin LLC (AE Coin successful October 2024).

RAKBANK is 1 of the UAE’s oldest banks with assets exceeding AED 88.3 cardinal ($24 cardinal USD) arsenic of mid-2025. 

Traditionally focused connected retail, SME, and firm banking, RAKBANK has progressively embraced fintech and integer innovations to stay competitory successful the UAE’s tech-forward economy. 

In July 2025, RAKBANK became the archetypal accepted UAE slope to integrate cryptocurrency trading straight into its mobile app, partnering with Bitpanda Technology Solutions nether the oversight of Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) had initially targeted a retail motorboat of the Digital Dirham, the country’s CBDC, successful Q4 2025.