coinspress.com
Abu Dhabi’s international financial hub has taken another step toward becoming a magnet for regulated digital-asset activity, widening the scope of Tether’s USDT within its jurisdiction.
The expansion strengthens the UAE’s push to position itself as an operational home for compliant crypto markets rather than a mere sandbox for experimentation.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), which oversees Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), has granted USDT full recognition as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token — a classification that allows regulated institutions in the zone to integrate the stablecoin into real financial use cases. Banks, brokers, custodians and fintech platforms operating under ADGM rules can now leverage USDT under supervision, including for settlement, payments and liquidity management.
What makes this update significant is the breadth of network coverage. USDT was already recognized on Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche, but the new decision expands that footprint to nine more chains: Aptos, Cosmos, Near, Polkadot, Celo, TRON, TON, Kaia and Tezos. This broadens the number of environments where USDT can operate legally and increases its utility across decentralized and institutional systems inside the financial free zone.
The approval is not an isolated act. It follows recent regulatory clearance for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin and full authorization for Binance to operate exchange, custody and clearing services in ADGM. Together, these developments show that Abu Dhabi is building a multi-asset, multi-platform stablecoin ecosystem grounded in oversight and licensing rather than informal market growth.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino welcomed the ruling, describing the UAE as one of the few jurisdictions globally that offers clarity instead of uncertainty. He said USDT’s wider chain support reflects the UAE’s desire to connect digital tokens to real financial infrastructure, fostering interoperability at a time when many regions still struggle to reconcile regulation with innovation. Ardoino added that the Middle East is becoming fertile ground for stablecoin-driven financial inclusion, and that ADGM’s approach may attract enterprise-level adoption.
For Abu Dhabi, the strategy is clear: build credibility first, scale later. By drawing in major token issuers and giving exchange operators a predictable licensing pathway, regulators are laying a foundation for settlement networks, on-chain asset issuance and cross-border payment capabilities.
With USDT now cleared across multiple networks in its regulated environment, ADGM strengthens its claim to being a jurisdiction where stablecoins are not just tolerated — they are structured, supervised and increasingly embedded into financial infrastructure.