Zand:- With the global stablecoin supply crossing $300 billion, nations are increasingly recognizing that they can no longer rely solely on USD-denominated stablecoins to serve their digital economies. Across Asia, governments and banks are announcing efforts to issue their own currency-backed stablecoins. This is spreading from South Korea’s push for a won-based token to Japan’s launching its yen-denominated stablecoin, with discussions in other regional markets too. Amid this, the middle eastern country of UAE has also joined the race. Zand, the Abu Dhabi-based digital bank, has launched Zand AED, the country’s first regulated stablecoin. This is a move that puts the UAE firmly into the fast-growing race among Asian and Middle Eastern economies to bring their national currencies onto public blockchains. Also Read: Stripe is Building a New Prototype for Stablecoin Zand Launches First Dirham-Backed Stablecoin The Central Bank of the UAE has granted Zand the regulatory approval for the issuance. This makes Zand AED the first officially sanctioned dirham-pegged stablecoin to be deployed by a regulated bank in the Emirates However, to launch a stablecoin in UAE, the country’s central bank rules require fiat-pegged stablecoins to be fully backed or meet strict high-quality reserve rules. Accordingly, Zand AED is fully backed 1: 1 by AED reserves, transparently audited, and issued across multiple public blockchains. Interestingly, Zand’s approval follows earlier expressions of interest in a dirham stablecoin most notably Tether’s announcement in 2024 that it intended to issue an AED-backed token. However, Zand’s stablecoin is the first to receive direct Central Bank authorization. This development comes alongside Zand’s expanding role in blockchain-based payments. The bank recently partnered with Ripple, building on Ripple’s Dubai regulatory license, to integrate blockchain-enabled payments for Zand Bank and Mamo. Also Read: Consensys and Eigen Launch Decentralized Solution for Web3 The Emerging Stablecoin Compliance Challenge As more nations accelerate efforts to issue stablecoins backed by their own national currencies, a new regulatory challenge is emerging: stablecoin compliance fragmentation. Across jurisdictions from the EU’s MiCA framework to the U. S.’s evolving GENIUS rules stablecoins must meet different legal, custody, transparency, and reserve requirements. This means that a stablecoin compliant in one jurisdiction may not be compliant in another. A MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin may not meet the requirements of U. S. regulators. A U. S.-regulated USDT or USDC may not automatically qualify for use under the EU’s MiCA regime. This regulatory divergence is creating a world where stablecoins are becoming geographically siloed. Compliant in one region but restricted in another. Thus, as more countries push for their own sovereign-currency stablecoins, there are interoperability and compliance conflicts that require solutions. Also Read: Inside Grayscale’s Solana ETF Strategy.
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UAE Bank Zand Launches First Dirham Stablecoin As Asian Nations Wake Up
