The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, an American post-trade financial services company providing clearing and settlement services to the financial markets known as DTCC, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Abu Dhabi based Securrency Inc. (“Securrency”), a leading developer of institutional-grade, digital asset infrastructure invested in by Mubadala sovereign Fund.

Securrency will become a fully-owned subsidiary of DTCC and will operate under the name DTCC Digital Assets. Nadine Chakar, CEO of Securrency, will join DTCC as Managing Director, Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets, reporting to Lynn Bishop, DTCC Managing Director and Chief Information Officer. Chakar will also join the DTCC Management Committee. In addition, Dan Doney, CTO and founder of Securrency, John Hensel, COO and co-founder, and other members of the Securrency leadership team, as well as roughly 100 Securrency staff of full-time employees or contractors, will become DTCC employees.

Securrency is a blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology developer that raised $30 million in 2021 from State Street, US Bank, WisdomTree Investments and others. It has worked with WisdomTree to help the asset manager launch “blockchain-enabled” funds that keep a secondary record of share ownership on the Stellar or Ethereum blockchains.

Frank La Salla, President, CEO and Director, DTCC, said, “Securrency is an important strategic acquisition that will give us the technology to drive market-wide transformation by enabling end-to-end digital lifecycle processing for tokenized assets, digital currencies and other financial instruments. By bringing together DTCC’s commitment to providing market stability and our unparalleled network of financial market participants with the sophistication of the Securrency technology, we will be in a leading position to unlock the value of digital assets and help guide the industry through its digital transformation journey. We believe this next generation of financial market infrastructure will further reduce settlement times, facilitate market transparency and risk management, enhance regulatory oversight and controls, and unlock efficiency and innovation to create an improved investor experience.”

By combining DTCC’s digital capabilities and Securrency’s technology, DTCC will fast-track development of its enterprise digital asset platform to unlock the power of institutional DeFi. DTCC will leverage the technology over time to embed digital assets within its existing products and services, develop new, regulatory-compliant blockchain-based offerings and explore use cases with the industry, including buyside asset managers, broker-dealers and custodians, to collaborate on new DTCC blockchain-based solutions.

In addition, DTCC will lead the industry’s development of a robust, global digital infrastructure by licensing the Securrency technology and offering professional services. Firms will be able to leverage the technology to transform and evolve their operating models and to create innovative, new digital asset services alone or in collaboration with other market participants – similar to how WisdomTree licenses Securrency’s software as part of the infrastructure for its WisdomTree Prime™ offering that provides tokenized assets and funds via digital wallets for retail investors and consumers.

Chakar said, “As we join forces with DTCC, we are excited to bring together DTCC’s infrastructure capabilities with Securrency’s technology to embrace a future where the digitization of capital markets is at the forefront of innovation. These capabilities will allow DTCC to partner with the industry to build a resilient and scalable infrastructure critical to the mass adoption of digital assets. Together, we will unlock opportunities to reimagine compliance, liquidity, efficiency and interoperability in trading real-world assets on the blockchain.”

DTCC also plans to provide global leadership to foster industry-wide collaboration to help avoid fragmentation with different digital technologies and standards. Securrency’s technology can address this issue by acting as a DLT-agnostic harmonization layer that promotes interoperability, liquidity, transparency and security.

La Salla said, “We look forward to building on our past work to drive consensus around the standards, controls and frameworks necessary to support regulatory-compliant digital asset solutions and development of the right architecture and infrastructure to ensure widespread interoperability. We’re excited to welcome our new colleagues to the DTCC team and to begin collaborating as a group to strengthen market stability and resilience and drive greater efficiencies, productivity, risk mitigation and liquidity in the global financial markets.”

This announcement comes as John Hensel, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Executive Officer, MENA, Securrency told IBS intelligence, “The UAE is ramping up its efforts to become a global blockchain hub.” In his interview he commented on why they chose UAE out of all the other countries globally including, USA, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore.

According to Hensel, SEC ( Securities and Exchange Commission) in the USA has portrayed a conservative approach to the regulation of digital assets, so exploring other regulatory jurisdictions they found that the UAE was a credible, well positioned young financial center that embraced technology with experienced regulatory experts from the USA, Australia, Singapore and others.

He explains, “ After being here for 6 years we have seen the landscape change and become more favorable for investors partnering under FSRA and who are benefiting from the protection of ADGM which will grow opportunities locally for us given we were first movers and have strong relations with sovereign wealth entities, broker dealers, fund managers as key stakeholders.”

Securrency entered the ADGM FSRA regulatory sandbox in 2017 and secured a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to deal in investments as a matched principal and provide custody for those investments in 2022. The license enabled Securrency Capital to provide trading of digital assets to a variety of clients, including retail clients.

Securrency had raised $30 million in its latest funding round. The funds were used to roll out the company’s expansion plans. The Series B funding round included existing investor WisdomTree Investment along with Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala-backed Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, State Street and U.S. Bank. Prior to that in 202, The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) had invested in Securrency, a US-based developer of blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology through its ventures fund.

The company also signed a strategic partnership with leading investment management and banking firm, Musharaka Capital in KSA, to develop a compliant platform for issuing digital securities in Saudi Arabia in 2020.

Coinbase, the largest publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it will be buying derivatives exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion deal to as it expands into the crypto options market, but the deal also means it will have a foothold in the UAE.

Deribit is one of the exchanges that has received a full license in the UAE back in December 2024, allowing it to offer spot and derivatives trading in the UAE under Deribit’s Dubai-based entity, Deribit FZE. It received its license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority after it had its conditional license in April 2024.

Coinbase noted that the acquisition would accelerate their Global Derivatives Strategy. They stated, “With Deribit’s strong presence and professional client base, Coinbase is making its most substantial move yet to accelerate our international growth strategy. Our complementary footprint strategically positions Coinbase within the sizable global crypto derivatives markets.”

The cash-and-stock deal will allow Coinbase to offer crypto options to its international clients. Widely used for hedging, options can be a key source of stability as their demand typically holds up during bouts of volatility.

The deal consists of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase’s Class A common stock, the company said, and is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close by year-end.

The post also noted that the deal would create the Most Comprehensive Institutional Derivatives Platform given that Deribit is the global leader in crypto options. the blog stated, “Deribit’s robust options platform complements Coinbase’s rapidly growing US futures and international perpetual futures businesses, completing our derivatives offering. This is an important step toward our goal of providing traders access to spot, futures, perpetual futures, and options trading – all in one seamless, capital-efficient platform.”

The acquisition will also make Coinbase the global leader in crypto derivatives by open interest and options volume. Deribit facilitated over $1 trillion in trading volume last year across key markets ex-US, with strong demand from institutional and advanced traders. We believe crypto options are on the cusp of significant expansion, similar to the equity options boom of the 1990s.

Finally Coinbase notes that Deribit will immediately enhance profitability and add diversity and durability to their trading revenues upon close.

“We’re excited to join forces with Coinbase to power a new era in global crypto derivatives,” said Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers. “As the leading crypto options platform, we’ve built a strong, profitable business, and this acquisition will accelerate the foundation we laid while providing traders with even more opportunities across spot, futures, perpetuals, and options – all under one trusted brand. Together with Coinbase, we’re set to shape the future of the global crypto derivatives market.”

Ripple backed Hidden Road, which offers traditional and digital asset brokerage services, has received In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM to operate as a regulated financial services firm.

Pending final regulatory approval, Hidden Road will be authorized to offer clearing and prime brokerage services across its global suite of traditional and digital asset products to institutional investors in the UAE.

“Receiving our IPA from ADGM marks a significant milestone for our business,” said James Stickland, UAE CEO, Hidden Road. “ADGM’s high regulatory standards make it a key market for institutional growth.”

Hidden Road Partners CIV NL B.V. is licensed as a MiFID investment firm and as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (“CASP”) by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). It is also an authorized a AMLD5 and MiFID investment firm by the UK Financial Conduct Authority; as well as a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)-member broker-dealer, and a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC).


“Our goal from day one has been to equip clients with seamless access both to traditional and digital markets,” said Noel Kimmel, President at Hidden Road. “We continue to actively pursue regulatory approvals around the world to deliver on that commitment, recognizing the confidence and transparency that follows when operating under clear regulatory frameworks.”

Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief of Market Development at ADGM, said, “ADGM congratulates Hidden Road on receiving its IPA from the FSRA to operate as a regulated financial services firm. The expansion of their services within the international financial centre is a testament to the immense opportunities available within Abu Dhabi. We look forward to Hidden Road receiving their Financial Services Permission (FSP) and their contribution to ADGM’s dynamic ecosystem.”

Hidden Road’s IPA from ADGM’s FSRA follows its recent definitive agreement on April 8, 2025, to be acquired by Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, for $1.25 billion. With the backing of Ripple’s significant balance sheet, Hidden Road will exponentially expand its capacity to service its pipeline and become one of the largest non-bank prime brokers globally. The deal is expected to close in the coming months, subject to regulatory approvals.

UAE regulated Aspen Digital, a digital asset manager seeds Coinbase Asset Management fund, which will be administered by Apex Group a leading financial services provider. The fund which will be delivered by Apex Malta is specifically tailored for digital asset strategies and its newly announced Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund (CBYF).

As per the press release, Aspen Digital will also serve as an exclusive wealth and distribution partner in the UAE and Asia.

This mandate further strengthens Apex Group’s strategic alliance with Coinbase AM and reflects the growing institutional adoption of digital assets, driven by the increasing demand for innovative yield-generating projects like CBYF.

Peter Hughes Apex Group’s Founder and CEO, noted, “We’re extremely pleased to strengthen our alliance with Coinbase AM to support the launch of CBYF this month. This fund further expands global access to meet the growing demand for bitcoin yield. Apex Group has ten years of expertise in crypto fund administration and is committed to innovation. We also have the ability to deliver secure, reliable and scalable solutions and pride ourselves on our capacity to handle the complexities of digital asset fund administration transfer agency and distribution while adhering to fiduciary standards.”

Matt Lundy, Coinbase AM’s COO and CRO, added, “The recent launch of the Coinbase Bitcoin Yield Fund has been met with incredible demand from institutional investors looking to earn yield on their Bitcoin holdings. Apex Group’s experience in the digital asset space and innovative thinking have allowed us to seamlessly deliver this unique international, institutional-grade Fund with Apex Group’s best-in-class administrator services to investors. We are thrilled to continue to build on our relationship with Apex Group.”

Crypto.com exchange, a regulated crypto exchange operating out of Dubai UAE, has partnered with Emarat Energy Company to offer crypto payment options at select Emarat service stations. As per the LinkedIn post the expansion depends on regulatory approvals and customer demand.

Emarat runs more than 155 service stations across the UAE. The setup of crypto fuel stations signals a shift towards new payment methods. This aligns with industry moves toward contactless payments and better customer service. Emarat hopes to modernize its retail model and appeal to tech-savvy consumers. It also aims to boost its image among digitally aware customers.


The partnership will see Crypto.com integrated at an initial 10 service stations, with plans to progressively expand the integration across the Emarat service station network.

Additionally, through Project Landmark—the first project providing naming rights for fuel stations in the world by Emarat, Crypto.com and Emarat will unveil the Crypto.com Emarat Service Station at Emarat’s Al Ameen Station in Al Wasl Road, a signature service station branded by Crypto.com and supported by the Crypto.com integration.

“Further enabling the utility of cryptocurrency is central to our vision at Crypto.com,” said Mohammed al Hakim, President of Crypto.com UAE. “The UAE is a cryptocurrency market leader, and we are excited to partner with Emarat, the region’s leading petroleum brand and serving tens of thousands of customers every day, in bringing digital assets into its next era.”

Ali Bin Zayed Al Falasi, Chief Retail Officer & Senior Vice President – Marketing at Emarat, said, “At Emarat, we are constantly exploring new frontiers in innovation and customer experience. This partnership with Crypto.com introduces a new era of convenience and possibility for our customers, while strengthening our position as a future-focused brand. Together, we’re bridging the gap between energy retail and emerging financial ecosystems.”

Crypto.com users and Emarat customers will be able to enjoy additional benefits of the partnership, having exclusive offers and a mutual promotional program to uplift customers’ experience.

The UAE has been at the forefront of Blockchain and crypto, with many real estate developers offering crypto payments and most recently one of the biggest investments in the UAE, the $2 billion investment into Binance being carried out using a stablecoin.

rootVX, a tokenization studio with advanced ledger, money, and data storage capabilities, whose solutions operate within regulatory frameworks and feature a programmable payment rail tailored to modern use cases, has been accepted into Qatar’s Digital Assets Lab launched by Qatar Financial Center.

According to RootVX this is a powerful step forward in their mission to reshape financial markets through tokenization. rootVX seeks to unlock global investment opportunities in a secure, compliant and user centric way.

In January 2025, Qatar Financial Center Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) published their growth in 2024, noting that they welcomed 836 new firms to its platform, a 156 percent growth compared to 2023 as well as 29 firms into its Qatar Digital Assets Lab. Since January QFC has also welcomed five other digital assets companies including Stobox, Alloxyz and others.

QFC also signed 24 memoranda of understanding in 2024, including agreements with prestigious financial institutions such as Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Masraf Al Rayan, Dukhan Bank, The Hashgraph Association, and the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. QFC established other significant partnerships during the year, including a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Media City and a collaboration agreement with Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), aimed at facilitating business setup in the State of Qatar

This week, Qatar Development Bank released the fifth edition of its annual Venture Investment Report 2024, in collaboration with MAGNiTT Research. The publication is part of QDB’s ongoing commitment to supporting Qatar’s investment sector and strengthening its foundations.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of Qatar’s investment landscape, enhances transparency, and offers access to data on the venture capital industry including the activities of investment funds that foster entrepreneurship and bolster the contribution of the private sector to Qatar’s economic growth.

The report also underscored fintech as the leading sector in Qatar, accounting for 29% of deals in 2024, an increase of 12% from 2023, highlighting the success of initiatives driven by QDB’s Qatar FinTech Hub.

UK based Kappa Lab previously known as CrypPro, a digital assets market maker, has opened a new operational base in Dubai UAE at the DMCC Crypto center. The announcement comes after its participation at Token 2049 in Dubai this April.

Speaking to Anis Akl, Founder of Kappa Lab, he noted, “We selected Dubai as the location for Kappa Lab’s new office for several strategic reasons. First, its regulatory environment as Dubai offers a well-established, business-friendly framework that supports innovation and growth. Secondly, the city’s overall value proposition has proven highly attractive to both our existing team and prospective talent.”

He also stated that one of the reasons was Dubai’s position as a global business hub—bridging East and West—provides a strong strategic advantage for Kappa Lab, which already has an established presence in the UK and Europe and is expanding its engagement in Asian markets.

He added that they plan to apply for a crypto broker dealer license with Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority. He says, “We do plan to apply for a broker-dealer license.”

This announcement comes as more and more crypto entities have been granted licenses by VARA in the UAE. Most recent are Gate.io, as well as BurjX which received an in-principle approval from ADGM.

AltNovel, an Abu Dhabi-based private markets platform regulated by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) at ADGM, has partnered with 3iQ, a global digital asset investment manager recently acquired by Japanese Monex Gorup, to launch the AltNovel Digital Access Portfolio (ADAP), digital asset Multi-Strategy Fund in the Middle East.

As per the press release, ADAP is a multi-strategy portfolio of alpha-oriented digital asset hedge funds that seek to deliver high absolute returns with a reduced correlation to traditional assets and hedge funds. The fund seeks improved risk-adjusted returns versus other assets such as Bitcoin, stocks and other digital assets.


It aims to deliver lower volatility and drawdowns relative to long-only digital assets targeting annualized returns of over 20% and mitigating drawdowns to as low as 2.4%.


Designed for professional qualified investors, the fund will combine 3iQ’s expertise in digital asset management with AltNovel’s innovative portfolio structuring, to offer a diversified and balanced exposure to this rapidly growing asset class.

“This partnership is a milestone for AltNovel as we continue to focus on bringing high quality investment solutions to private investors in the GCC from our home in the ADGM,” said Stergios Voskopoulos, CEO of AltNovel. “Digital assets represent the next frontier in portfolio diversification, and this collaboration with a sector leader like 3iQ aligns with our commitment to offering forward institutional-grade, highly customizable digital asset investment opportunities tailored to their evolving needs.”

“The United Arab Emirates is at the forefront of financial innovation and robust digital assets regulation. As part of our global expansion plan, we are excited to partner with AltNovel to bring our expertise in risk management and digital asset strategies to the region. We are seeing an increasing demand for institutional risk-managed solutions,” said Pascal St-Jean, President and CEO of 3iQ.

The fund will provide diversified exposure to digital asset investment strategies with the objective of reducing volatility while delivering superior returns. This partnership underscores the firms’ shared belief in the potential of digital assets to transform the global financial landscape.

Bahrain based Singapore Gulf Bank, a fully licensed digital bank in MENA with permission to integrate customers from across the world digitally and to serve crypto clients, has appointed the former U.S. Federal Reserve vice chair Randal Quaties as vice chairman of its newly-formed global advisory board. The new appointment aims to support the international growth.

Singapore Gulf Bank, which is backed by Whampoa Group and Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, noted that the global advisory board would be chaired by Whampoa Group’s founder Amy Lee. Other board members include co-founder of China’s largest online travel agency Ctrip Fan Min, founding CEO of Boyu Capital Louis Cheung and Beyon Digital’s CEO Shaikh Mohamed Khalifa Al Khalifa.

Matrixport’s chairman Wu Jihan and Jiangsu General Chamber of Commerce’s president Fan Yurong are also members. Matrixport offers a comprehensive suite of innovative and easy-to-use crypto investment products and financial services tailored for all levels of expertise.

In April 2025, Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) launched its personal banking services, and will enable instant movement between crypto and fiat via top licensed exchanges with instant off and on ramping. Earlier in 2024 Singapore Gulf Bank was in talks with a Middle East sovereign wealth fund to raise $50 million to acquire a stablecoin payments company in 2025 either in the Middle East or Europe.

The bank already offers digital asset/crypto custody services.

Kuwait’s Public Prosecution after detaining 26 individuals, is further investigating another 60 individuals which the prosecution says are involved in illegal crypto mining activities.

According to Kuwait Arab Times the Kuwait Public Prosecutor has detained 26 individuals pending further investigation. The individuals were charges with engaging in unauthorized activities that undermine the country’s interests, while lacking necessary licenses from municipality and the Ministry of Industry and Communications.

The charges are the illicit use of energy to mine cryptocurrency, in violation of state-mandated electricity consumption regulations. According to sources, the defendants denied the charges during their interrogation but were confronted with criminal investigation reports linking them to the incidents and some of the seized devices.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior revealed the seizure of 47 homes in the Ahmadi Governorate, where residents were engaged in cryptocurrency mining, significantly affecting the electricity supply.

The Cabinet has commended the outcomes of an extensive security operation overseen by Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef, Minister of Electricity, Water, and Renewable Energy Dr. Subaih Al-Mukhaizeem, Minister of State for Communications Affairs Omar Al-Omar, and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Abdullatif Al-Mishari.

The Cabinet emphasized that the operation is part of ongoing governmental efforts to combat unlawful activities, safeguard the electricity grid from illegal usage, and ensure public safety. Crypto mining according to government officials exploits electrical resources, leading to increased grid loads, power outages, and disruptions in residential, commercial, and service areas.​

The Public Prosecution, through the Commercial Affairs Prosecution, has ordered the continued detention of several suspects, including property owners who rented out their homes for mining purposes.

Others have been released on bail of 500 Kuwaiti dinars. Investigators have confronted defendants with evidence of substantial deposits in their accounts, some amounting to 3,000–4,000 dinars daily, originating from unidentified sources.

In Al Rai media, sources informed the publication that operations to identify cryptocurrency mining sites are ongoing. Searches are being conducted in areas including Wafra, Sabah Al-Ahmad, and Mutlaa, with no region excluded, The Ministry of Electricity is disconnecting power to properties involved in mining activities, with reconnection contingent upon approval from the Ministry of Interior.​

Additionally, the Ministry of Electricity, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, is enforcing penalties for cryptocurrency mining activities based on the previous ban announced recently.

XWeave, a stablecoin infrastructure startup for cross-border payments will be expanding its operations to the UAE after raising $3 million in seed funding. The round was led by Jungle Ventures through its First Cheque@Jungle initiative, alongside crypto investment firm Lightshift. Follow-on investment came from Menyala, a venture studio founded by Temasek that also incubated the company. Additional investors include White Star Capital, Fabric Ventures, Digital Currency Group (DCG), The Venture Dept., and several angel investors.

As per the announcement, the funding will be used to expand XWeave’s network across non-G10 payment corridors in Asia and the Middle East, including the UAE, Indonesia, Japan, and Hong Kong. The company is also in talks with regional fintechs and global merchant platforms to integrate real-time cross-border settlement into their products.

Founded in 2024 by Milind Sanghavi, a payments veteran with prior roles at Meta, PayPal, Visa, Ezetap, and OCBC, XWeave aims to modernize global money movement by connecting fiat payment rails with blockchain-based stablecoin networks. Since launching operations in December 2024, XWeave has enabled real-time payments between Singapore and the Philippines.


“The US$30T cross-border payments market is overdue for transformation. As stablecoins evolve into mainstream financial infrastructure, XWeave is the connective tissue that enables businesses to move money across borders with the ease of a text and the compliance rigor of regulated flows. While there have been other attempts using specific digital assets, we’re about to see a significant rise in both stablecoins and CBDCs. XWeave’s non-custodial, asset-agnostic orchestration platform is the best way for businesses to access this growing liquidity— leveraging the benefits of blockchain without relying on regulatory arbitrage. Our job is to make it usable and adaptable for the full spectrum of money flows.” said Milind Sanghavi, Founder and CEO of XWeave.

This week, Eric Trump, the son of President Donald Trump, during his participation at Token 2049 demystified the stablecoin behind the deal that was made between UAE sovereign wealth fund MGX and Binance crypto exchange. The $2 billion investment by MGX into Binance was announced earlier this year, yet the stablecoin mentioned for carrying out the deal remained a mystery.