Cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions company Ripple aims to serve major companies in the UAE after Dubai granted it the first licence to provide regulated crypto payments and services in the Emirates, its top executive for the region has said.
Ripple is tapping into the growing cross-border payments market in the UAE, while aiming to address reduced fees and long settlement times, and promote transparency, Reece Merrick, Ripple's managing director for the Middle East and Africa, said.
The San Francisco-based company, which operates out of the Dubai International Financial Centre, has received the licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the DIFC's financial regulatory agency, it said on Thursday.
The move makes Ripple the first blockchain-enabled payments provider at the DIFC, which “opens the door for Ripple to tap into new growth opportunities across the region and beyond”, the centre's chief executive Arif Amiri said in a statement.
The company's plan is to serve “payment services providers, exchange houses, financial institutions and large enterprise corporations … we're not looking to serve any retail customers”, Mr Merrick told The National in an interview.
According to a 2024 survey conducted by Ripple, about 64 per cent of finance leaders feel that faster payments and settlement times are the biggest factors for incorporating blockchain-based currencies into their cross-border payments business.
“We want to serve the … business-to-business payment specialists in the region to be able to allow them to benefit from the speed of transaction and settlement here,” Mr Merrick said.
The licence is also Ripple's first in the Middle East. Operating out of the UAE could also serve as a springboard for further expansion in the Gulf, Mr Merrick said, without identifying which countries the company is eyeing. He told The National in October that Ripple was in talks for Gulf expansion after receiving its in-principle licence from DFSA.
“The DFSA authorisation proves that we're putting our flag in the ground and we're fully committed to the region as a whole … and now, we will continue to see more business operations being handed out of this region,” Mr Merrick said.
“We have a policy team working with central banks and regulators across the region to see where they are in terms of their plans for digital asset regulation … We are watching these markets very closely and see the opportunities that could arise once they have do have clear regulation.”
The UAE has made several moves to encourage the adoption of cryptos built around robust frameworks and legislations, spearheaded by Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and Abu Dhabi Global Market.
The Emirates has emerged as the Middle East and North Africa's third-largest crypto economy after Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The country received around $34 billion worth of cryptos between July 2023 and June 2024, a 42 per cent annual jump that is significantly higher than the Mena average of almost 12 per cent, latest data from Chainalysis shows.
Ripple's users in the Middle East represent a fifth of its global customer base, Mr Merrick had previously told The National. Ripple builds its products on the XRP ledger and uses XRPL's native token to facilitate cross-border payments.
XRP is the fourth-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, valued at more than $127 billion as of Wednesday, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
In the Ripple survey, 82 per cent of leaders in the Middle East and Africa believe that digital assets will have either a massive or significant impact on business in general over the next three years.
“Being in the Middle East enables us to meet the significant demands and expectations of the people who are looking to move funds cross-border and work in an environment where there's regulatory framework to utilise crypto payments,” Mr Merrick said.
