Ripple has expanded its operations in the UAE by establishing a new Middle East and Africa headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), as it scales up to meet increasing demand for regulated blockchain payment services.
The blockchain payments infrastructure company plans to double the size of its Middle East and Africa team out of the new DIFC office, aiming to keep pace with a region that now accounts for roughly 20% of the company’s global customer base. For a firm that first set up shop in Dubai in 2020, that is a large share of business to be pulled from a single region just six years later.
In March 2025, Ripple became the first blockchain payments company to receive full licensure from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), allowing it to offer regulated cross-border digital payment services from inside the DIFC.
In June 2025, the DFSA approved RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, as a recognized crypto token within the financial center. That approval means regulated firms operating in the DIFC can use RLUSD in custody, settlement, and payments without venturing outside the regulatory perimeter.
RLUSD’s total market capitalization currently sits at over $1.5 billion, per CoinGecko.
Ripple’s clients in the region include Zand Bank, the UAE’s first digital bank, which uses Ripple’s payment rails; Ctrl Alt, a digital asset custody firm; Garanti BBVA, the Turkish banking giant; South Africa’s Absa Bank; and Chipper Cash, the fintech connecting mobile payment users across Africa.
“In recent years the Middle East has become an increasingly vital driver of Ripple’s global growth,” said Reece Merrick, Ripple’s Managing Director for the MEA region. “A larger team, based here in Dubai, will enable us to go further in supporting our clients and partners across the region and beyond.”
Arif Amiri, the DIFC Authority’s chief executive, said Ripple’s growth within the center validates the authority’s strategy.
“Ripple has been a model for how digital asset firms can operate with both ambition and accountability,” Amiri stated.
RLUSD’s DFSA approval makes it one of a small number of dollar-backed stablecoins with explicit regulatory approval in a major financial center.
