Abu Dhabi-based Common Digital has launched USDU, the primary US greenback‑backed stablecoin to be registered by the Central Financial institution of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) as a Overseas Cost Token below the Cost Token Providers Regulation (PTSR), the corporate mentioned.
In keeping with a launch shared with Cointelegraph, the registration makes Common the UAE’s first Overseas Cost Token Issuer and creates a transparent, regulated US greenback‑denominated settlement possibility for digital property within the UAE.
Juha Viitala, a senior govt officer of Common, instructed Cointelegraph that the PTSR had allowed a transition interval for fee token issuers to grow to be PTSR-compliant and that, amongst all of the USD stablecoins, USDU was the primary to acquire such registration.
USDU and the UAE’s fee token regime
Common is regulated by Abu Dhabi World Market’s Monetary Providers Regulatory Authority (FSRA) with permission to concern a fiat‑referenced token and is now concurrently registered with the CBUAE for fee‑token actions.
Viitala mentioned that this twin oversight imposed a “greater stage of self-discipline throughout reserve custody, governance, disclosures, and operational controls,” and that, for establishments, that distinction was materials as a result of “registration gives a clearer compliance pathway for sure regulated use circumstances.”
Regulated establishments, reminiscent of banks, brokers and licensed venues within the UAE, now have a central‑financial institution‑registered US greenback token they’ll plug into current compliance, settlement and reporting workflows.
Beneath the PTSR, funds for digital property and digital asset derivatives within the UAE could solely be performed in fiat or a Registered Overseas Cost Token.
Whereas international stablecoins reminiscent of Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) are broadly utilized by UAE‑primarily based merchants by way of exchanges and over-the-counter desks, they aren’t registered below the CBUAE’s fee token regime, which means USDU is at the moment the one US greenback stablecoin that formally meets these necessities, Viitala defined.
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Reserve construction and banking companions
USDU is issued as an ERC‑20 token on Ethereum and is designed for institutional {and professional} use, with a conservative reserve construction and direct banking integration.
Reserves are totally backed 1:1 by US {dollars} held in safeguarded onshore accounts at Emirates NBD and Mashreq, with Mbank performing as a strategic company banking companion and a worldwide accounting agency offering month-to-month impartial attestations.
Viitala mentioned that the banking companions offered reserve custody and safeguarding, whereas the issuer remained liable for assembly its obligations.
“Person confidence stems from the mixture of regulated banking custody, recurring third-party attestations, and regulatory oversight,” he mentioned.
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Institutional distribution by way of Aquanow
The agency can also be working with AE Coin, an Emirate dirham-denominated stablecoin licensed by the Central Financial institution of the UAE, to allow future conversion between USDU and AE Coin for home settlement, aligning US greenback and dirham fee tokens inside the similar regulatory perimeter.
Common has appointed Aquanow, regulated below Dubai’s Digital Belongings Regulatory Authority (VARA), as its international distribution companion to increase institutional entry to USDU and combine it into regulated digital asset infrastructure, together with on- and off‑ramp and settlement use circumstances.
Whereas USDU can be utilized for UAE home fee of digital property and derivatives, it’s not permitted for normal retail funds within the mainland, the place dirham‑denominated devices stay the usual.
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