Issue a digital representation of your bank's own deposit liability on your own ledger - regulated under your existing central bank licence, not a stablecoin, and requiring no separate VARA licence. The instrument that makes your digital asset infrastructure permanent rather than partner-dependent.
A government-backed AED stablecoin is already live and expanding into retail, and the UAE Central Bank is targeting a live commercial Digital Dirham by the end of 2026. Banks without their own digital asset infrastructure are not competing for the deposit relationship - they are distributing someone else's rails, today.
Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 requires UAE banks to comply with the broader virtual asset framework by September 2026. Part of this deadline, under the earlier Payment Token Services Regulation, has already passed.
The UAE Central Bank is targeting a live commercial Digital Dirham by end of 2026. A government-issued digital currency changes the deposit dynamic permanently for every bank in the market.
HSBC launched tokenized deposit infrastructure in the UAE on 22 June 2026, supporting AED and five currencies for corporate clients. The most conservative bank in the world does not deploy unless the framework is confirmed.
A tokenized deposit is a bank-issued digital representation of a customer's AED deposit, regulated under your existing central bank licence. It is not a stablecoin, and it does not require a VARA licence - it is the instrument that makes your digital asset infrastructure permanent rather than partner-dependent.
The bank that builds tokenized deposit infrastructure does not compete with the Digital Dirham. It interoperates with it - and becomes the distribution and experience layer for sovereign digital money.
Moving from a stablecoin card to a tokenized deposit does not replace Layer 1's revenue - it deepens it. Every income stream continues, and the bank adds full net interest margin on the tokenized deposit balance itself, no longer shared with a custody partner.
Launched tokenized deposit infrastructure in the UAE on 22 June 2026, supporting AED and five currencies for corporate and institutional clients - live proof that the regulatory framework is confirmed.
RAKBank secured in-principle central bank approval for its own AED stablecoin in January 2026. Zand Bank launched the UAE's first digital-native AED stablecoin in November 2025. USDU became the first approved Foreign Payment Token, also January 2026.
This model is already live in the United States: the technology company behind our orchestration platform is the integration layer for a bank consortium - including Vantage Bank and Custodia - built around a GENIUS Act-compliant digital deposit token.
A tokenized deposit is issued under your bank's existing central bank licence - it is not a stablecoin, and it does not require a VARA licence. This is the most regulatory-defensible form of digital money available to a bank today, and the instrument that makes your digital asset strategy permanent rather than dependent on a third-party custody partner.