UAE's Crypto Boom: Why Tokenised Gold, Stablecoins Are Moving Into Everyday Finance

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The UAE's growing role as a hub for digital assets is bringing stablecoins, tokenised gold and cross-border financial services closer to everyday financial use, industry experts said during a panel discussion.

The discussion at the Banking Innovation & Technology Summit (BIT) 2026 on Thursday, 'Stablecoins Go Live: From Dirham-Backed Tokens to Everyday Settlement', brought together Ramana Kumar, President of Stablecoin Ecosystem, ADI Foundation; Gaurav Mathur, Founder and Managing Director, SafeGold; and Serena Sebastiani, Chief Strategy Officer, Fuze Finance.

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The panel looked at how digital assets could move beyond investment and become part of everyday payments, settlement and wealth management.

Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels. Tokenisation could make gold easier to use

Ramana Kumar said the concept of tokenised gold is rooted in the historical role of the precious metal as a medium of exchange.

“If you go back in history, gold has been used as a currency. Gold is a store of value and a medium of exchange. When the value of a physical piece of metal became too big to carry around or subdivide, it obviously stopped being used as currency,” he said.

He said tokenisation could address that limitation by making gold easier to divide, transfer and use digitally.

“So fundamentally, what tokenisation does is allow you to make gold usable as currency again. You can use it, and we want to tokenise gold and store it like some sort of stablecoin. From a consumer point of view, it makes it much easier to invest,” Kumar said.

He added that digital gold could also offer consumers greater flexibility in accessing physical gold through a wider network of retail points.

“We already use it - we came in with a gold proposition, obviously with gold shops and jewellers. With one of these digital tokens, you can walk into retail shops (gold shops and jewellers) and convert it into different pieces of gold seamlessly,” he said.

While such conversions may not be common, Kumar said the ability to convert the digital asset into physical gold could itself make the proposition attractive.

“Not that many people do that, but knowing you have the ability to convert it makes it quite an attractive investment opportunity for consumers. I think a lot of people think of gold as their insurance asset.”

UAE emerges as a digital-assets hub

The wider digital-asset ecosystem is also gaining traction in the UAE, with the country positioning itself as a jurisdiction willing to support innovation while developing a regulatory framework.

Sebastiani said the UAE's approach has helped it become an important market for stablecoins and other digital assets.

“The UAE has been pioneering all this growth, not only in stablecoins, but in digital assets and crypto in general. The jurisdiction is not afraid to support crypto. We are one of the (few) jurisdictions that has embraced crypto,” she said.

The growth of digital assets is also taking place alongside a broader shift in how UAE residents manage money, particularly among expatriates whose incomes, savings and investments can span several countries and currencies.

David Henry, Chief Product Officer at Mal, said international freelancers and other globally connected workers can earn in stronger currencies while remaining tied to local financial systems.

“From a regional perspective, they (people) are still locked into their local financial systems, so they have to get paid in a weaker currency, potentially amid high inflationary pressures. In general, this population is able to earn internationally, but the financial services ecosystem hasn't really kept pace. It's still very locally focused and local-first, which is necessary to some extent for everyday spending.”

Henry said there was growing value in giving such consumers the ability to receive international income and retain liquidity in currencies that may be less volatile.

“But there's a lot of value in being able to get paid internationally and hold liquidity in currencies that are less volatile," he said.

He also pointed to demand for tools that can help people make better financial decisions, including“retirement calculators”, as residents increasingly look at how to save, invest and put their money to work.

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