UAE CBDC and cross-border settlement corridors
Sovereign digital currency programme and bilateral corridor agreements.
UAE digital-money and corridor stack
Digital Dirham and corridor architecture
The Digital Dirham is the CBUAE’s central bank digital currency. The first Digital Dirham was issued as legal tender in January 2024. It is non-interest-bearing and fully fungible with cash and bank deposits. The programme covers both retail and wholesale use cases, with programmable settlement and smart-contract capabilities.
The CBUAE participates in mBridge, a multi-CBDC cross-border payment platform with the BIS Innovation Hub, the central banks of China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. The mBridge MVP launched in June 2024, enabling real-value cross-border transactions using wholesale CBDCs.
The CBUAE–HKMA cooperation announced in February 2026 deepened bilateral capital-markets connectivity and explicitly discussed digital assets, tokenisation, CBDC, and stablecoin regulatory frameworks. CBUAE formally joined Hong Kong’s Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU).
The Emirates NBD AED digital bond on Euroclear’s D-FMI platform (January 2026) demonstrates live tokenised-debt settlement infrastructure, signalling institutional readiness for digital-asset capital markets.
Corridor signal matrix
| Corridor | Status | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Dirham | Live. First issued Jan 2024. Retail and wholesale. | Sovereign CBDC. Distinct from private payment tokens. |
| mBridge MVP | Live since Jun 2024. BIS. | Multi-CBDC cross-border settlement with China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. |
| CBUAE–HKMA cooperation | Published Feb 2026. CMU notice. | Capital-markets connectivity, tokenisation, stablecoin discussions. |
| Emirates NBD digital bond | Market event Jan 2026. Euroclear D-FMI. | First AED digital bond. Live tokenised-debt settlement. |