USDC stablecoin issuer, Circle, secured a license from the UAE authorities to function as a money service provider.
Circle, an internet financial platform company and also a stablecoin issuer, announced that it obtained a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM, the International Financial Centre (IFC) of Abu Dhabi. With the possession of the license, Circle will be able to operate as a money service provider in the region.
Giving his thoughts about Circle’s expansion into the UAE, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Circle, Jeremy Allaire, stated:
“Regulatory clarity is the foundation of a more open and efficient internet financial system. We are honored to work with the FSRA in ADGM. Their framework sets a high bar for transparency, risk management, and consumer protection—standards that enable trusted stablecoins to power real-world payments and finance at internet scale.”
So how does the license help Circle?
Sharing his view with Altcoin Desk, market analyst, Lavneet Basnal, stated:
“Circle getting an MSP license is a meaningful step because it brings stablecoin issuers directly into the regulated payments space. For Circle, it creates room to build real on-chain payment and settlement flows in a region where cross-border movement and remittances are already a major part of daily life.”
For the broader ecosystem, the shift is deeper. When stablecoin issuers become licensed money service providers, they start to reshape the parts of finance that rely on slow correspondent banking rails. Remittances, settlement, and cross-border payouts can move faster, with fewer intermediaries and lower friction. This is the early sign that on-chain dollars are beginning to influence how the global money movement actually works, opined Lavneet Basnal.
UAE has been a crypto-friendly hub, and this is not the first time a stablecoin issuer has succeeded in establishing its presence. Just a few weeks ago, Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority recognized the USD-backed stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) as an accepted fiat-referenced token.
Authorised Persons licensed by the FSRA could carry out regulated activities while abiding and maintaining compliance with firm-level regulatory obligations relevant to the use of Fiat-Referenced Tokens.
