Marhaba, fintech friends!

Between Abu Dhabi Finance Week and the Formula One final, it was a big week in the UAE capital.

In fintech, it was licensing galore for regional players, but a frenzy for global ones:

• Binance gets licensed for 3 separate entities to be launched in January (an exchange, a clearing house, and a broker dealer);
• Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin becomes an accepted fiat-referenced token, and
• Circle secures a full financial services permission from ADGM, allowing it to operate as a regulated Money Services Provider in the UAE

This upgrades Circle's earlier in-principle approval and gives USDC a defined path into regional payment, settlement and treasury workflows.

The regulatory drive aligns with a broader regional shift toward programmable, regulated value transfer: Morocco introduced a draft digital-asset framework that includes stablecoins. Saudi Arabia is deploying national tokenization infrastructure tied to real-estate markets. The UAE continues to build cross-border interoperability through platforms like mBridge, which recently facilitated its first direct CBDC payment with China.

With Circle now fully licensed in Abu Dhabi, stablecoin rails are becoming a more formal part of the country's financial architecture, supporting emerging use cases across institutional settlement, cross-border liquidity and developer-led payment applications.

Now, let’s get into the rest of this week’s activity across fintech in MENA.

💸 Fundraises and Exits

🇸🇦 erad, a Riyadh-based alternative financing platform, secures a $125 million credit facility in partnership with Jefferies and with co-investment from Channel Capital

🇧🇭🇹🇷 Paribu, a Turkish digital asset platform, acquires CoinMENA, the region's largest crypto exchange in a deal valued at $240 million

#coinmena #paribu | Talal Tabbaa | 333 comments

Paribu has acquired CoinMENA 🚀 🕺 ! After months of hard work (and a due-diligence process that aged me a few years), CoinMENA is officially becoming part of Paribu, Türkiye’s leading digital asset platform and one of the sharpest teams I’ve met in this industry. This is a moment that confirms what we always believed: if you build with conviction, stay consistent, and serve users obsessively, opportunities eventually catch up, and start-ups CAN generate cash returns for their investors in MENA. Paribu is one of the most inspiring companies I’ve ever come across, and I’m genuinely excited to start this next chapter with Yasin Oral and his team. Together, we’re about to level up what digital asset platforms can offer. And to everyone who has been part of the CoinMENA journey so far, you know this would not have been possible without you. Some random important lessons I learned along the way: - Consistency, persistence, and thick skin beat “smart” every single time. - Try to get BECO Capital on your cap table. They backed us up post-FTX crash in a year where we posted heavy losses and had a few months of runway, and I’m happy we were able to repay the trust. - Register your start-ups in Cayman or ADGM, not BVI. I never want to do “wet ink” again. - Operate in industries the mainstream doesn’t fully understand. Its much easier to make healthy margins on crypto than it is on traditional FX, because less people understand it. - Equity is your most important asset, be generous with your team (linked with targets) but don’t give it away to investors easily. - If you are fundraising via convertible notes, understand what ‘liquid pref’ actually means. - Don’t rely too heavily on the “we are regulated” moat, as that decays over time, and clients stay for the services, experience and competitive fees. - Timing is insanely important, as factors like sector growth rate, overall margins, quality of competitors changes over time, and those are factors outside a founder’s control. - Exits don’t need to involve American companies. The world is bigger than Silicon Valley. A huge chapter closes, and a more exciting one begins! I’m excited for what comes next, and even more excited to build it with Paribu. #CoinMENA #Paribu | 333 comments on LinkedIn

LinkedInTalal Tabbaa

🇦🇪 Zelo, a private credit platform and IHC subsidiary, receives $715 million from its parents company to expand supply chain financing across the Middle East

🇦🇪 Byit Capital, a UAE-based proptech focused on agent-first brokerage, raises $1.1 million from A15, Beltone Holding and angel investors

💰 Funds

🇦🇪 Hashgraph Ventures completes the first close of its Web3 and AI early-stage venture capital fund

🇯🇴🇺🇸 Propeller, MENA-based VC firm, launches its third fund with $50 million in capital to invest in US and MENA start-ups building horizontal AI infrastructure and AI-native software

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

🇧🇭🇯🇴 Bahrain's ARP Digital, a crypto-asset services provider, partners with Cairo Amman Bank (Jordan) to develop and provide regulated OTC virtual asset conversion services in both countries

🇦🇪 Huru launches Quick Cash, an instant microfinance feature developed with Mawarid Finance

🇦🇪 Visa expands its stablecoin settlement capabilities across CEMEA, leveraging Aquanow's digital asset infrastructure

🇦🇪 Global digital payments gateway, COINPAYMENTS, partners with Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team

🇦🇪 SlashData launches Shary in partnership with the Integrated Transport Centre: a digital escrow service for vehicle ownership transfers within the federal licensing system

🇸🇦 Merchants using MoneyHash can now seamlessly integrate loyalty programs, through the start-up's new partnership with WalaOne

🇦🇪 The UAE's digital-first Islamic bank, ruya, launches shariah-compliant bitcoin trading

🇦🇪 botim Money and Binance explore avenues for digital asset access for customers

🇦🇪 Presight partners with HSBC UAE to develop AI capabilities in risk management, operational performance and client insights

🇦🇪 Franklin Templeton signs MoUs with Finstreet and ADI Corporation to develop digital asset solutions

🇦🇪🇨🇳 YeePay, China-based cross-border fintech, sets up a regional headquarters and technology hub in Abu Dhabi

🇸🇾 Following an agreement to develop the country's digital payments ecosystem, Visa announces plans to launch operations in Syria

🇦🇪 Emirates Gold partners with Public Gold, a Malaysian gold solutions providers, to introduce the world's first fintech-enabled Gold ATM in the UAE.

🏛 Licensing & Regulations

🇦🇪 Binance receives formal authorization from ADGM's FSRA

🇦🇪 Rostro Group receives a Category 5 license from the UAE's Securities and Commodities Authority

🇦🇪 Tabadulat, a Shariah-compliant investing platform, receives a full Financial Services Permission as a Category 3A licensed entity from ADGM's FSRA

🇦🇪 Circle secures a license from ADGM's FSRA to expand its regulated payment and settlement services for businesses, developers and financial institutions in the UAE

🇦🇪 Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based digital assets and Web3 company, receives in-principal approval to operate as a regulated fund manager under ADGM

🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi's FSRA recognizes Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as an accepted fiat-referenced token for use within ADGM

🇦🇪 Zest Equity is licensed to offer escrow, distribution services and digital execution capabilities for private market transactions under ADGM.

Thank you for tuning in!

If you have feedback on this edition of This Week in Fintech MENA, please reach out on LinkedIn.

Until next week,

Salam ✌🏼