To develop tokenised investment products and services in Dubai, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), is inviting firms to express their interest in participating in the DFSA’s Tokenisation Regulatory Sandbox.
The Tokenisation Regulatory Sandbox would allow firms to test innovative products and services in a controlled environment. As a part of the DFSA‘s Innovation Testing Licence programme, the sandbox would also enable firms to test their products against regulations. In other words, the sandbox would offer firms a regulatory pathway, an ecosystem to experiment new services, and ultimately a way to authorise new solutions.
The DFSA’s Innovation Testing Licence has already been instrumental in supporting fintechs and digital finance pioneers in the DIFC. Expanding its scope to tokenised investments reinforces the DIFC, Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates’ position in the global digital finance sphere.
The expression of interest window opened on 17 March 2025 and will last just over a month, until 24 April 2025. Interested firms will undergo an assessment process, and those who demonstrate strong business models and regulatory understanding may be invited to participate in the DFSA’s Tokenisation Regulatory Sandbox. There, they will receive tailored regulatory support and structured testing opportunities.
Firms that should apply in this window should engage in tokenisation-related financial services, such as issuing, trading, holding, or settling tokenised investments. These include equities, bonds, sukuk, and collective investment fund units.
Existing DFSA Authorised Firms looking to expand into tokenisation should also look to apply as well as those with a strong understanding of the applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
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