Coinbase has received regulatory approval in Abu Dhabi to offer tokenized securities (stocks and other financial instruments represented as digital tokens on a blockchain) to eligible international investors, with Apple common stock serving as the first product under the new framework. The joint ADGM and Coinbase press release was dated 13 August 2026, two days after Coinbase’s own announcement.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) granted Coinbase a Financial Services Permission to arrange investment deals and provide custody services for tokenized securities. Coinbase has named ADGM its international tokenization hub, with Dubai remaining its derivatives base.
What Coinbase Tokenized Securities Actually Offer Holders
The structure works through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a ring-fenced company created solely to hold the underlying assets. Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd., established in ADGM in June, issues certificates that represent beneficial interests in Apple common stock held in trust.
According to the Coinbase official blog, verified token holders receive full shareholder rights including dividends and voting. The FSRA-approved prospectus for the Apple CB Certificates adds a nuance, however: voting rights attach only to holders defined as ‘Vested Holders’ under the prospectus terms, not automatically to every wallet holding a certificate.
Eligible investors access the securities through digital wallets. All transfers remain subject to sanctions screening and other regulatory controls, and the products are restricted to eligible jurisdictions outside the United States.
Coinbase says the model could support faster settlement, continuous trading and fractional ownership of shares, though it acknowledges that adoption will depend on available liquidity in each market.
Abu Dhabi Is Already Home to Competing Tokenized Stock Platforms
Coinbase is not the first mover in this particular space. Ondo Finance received FSRA approval in March 2026 to trade tokenized US stocks and ETFs, covering names including Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and Nvidia, on Binance’s regulated Multilateral Trading Facility within ADGM. Ondo Global Markets subsequently crossed $1 billion in total value locked by May 2026, described as the first tokenized stock platform to reach that level.
Earlier this year, on 11 June 2026, the FSRA admitted bStocks to ADGM’s Official List on Nest Exchange, a recognised investment exchange. Structured as certificates over shares by Btech Holdings, bStocks became the first tokenized digital securities to achieve full exchange-listing status within a conventional securities framework inside ADGM.
The Apple CB Certificates will therefore enter a market where the technology is already being tested, though Coinbase’s scale and brand give it a different starting point from earlier entrants.
Where the US Regulatory Picture Stands
Progress in Abu Dhabi sits alongside, not instead of, a separate US approval process. Coinbase has been seeking Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clearance to offer tokenized equities domestically. Reuters reported that Coinbase acquired a broker-dealer in 2018, but that affiliate has not been active, which is why the company needs either a no-action letter or exemptive relief from the SEC before it can offer tokenised equities in the US.
The regulatory groundwork in Washington is moving. In December 2025, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets granted the Depository Trust Company a no-action letter allowing a three-year tokenization pilot for certain highly liquid securities, specifically constituents of the Russell 1000 index, ETFs tracking major indices, and US Treasuries, as reported by CoinDesk. The SEC subsequently approved a Nasdaq rule change permitting trading of securities in tokenised form on that exchange, as detailed by law firm Dechert citing 91 F.R. 13900 dated 18 March 2026. Coinbase’s own request to the SEC remains a separate process.
What This Means If You Hold Coinbase Stock
For holders of Coinbase (COIN), the Abu Dhabi approval represents an expansion of the company’s addressable market beyond crypto trading revenue. Tokenizing equities could generate custody and arrangement fees on assets that were previously off-platform entirely.
The region already has form: Coinbase used ADGM for digital debt and private-market products, including a Mubadala Capital strategy that attracted about $75 million in onchain assets. The Apple-linked certificates are the first test of whether that appetite extends to mainstream equities at scale. ADGM introduced its virtual asset framework in 2018, giving it nearly a decade of regulatory infrastructure that newer entrants to tokenized finance are still building elsewhere.
The US approval process remains the larger prize. If the SEC eventually grants Coinbase the relief it needs, the ADGM infrastructure and operational experience built around these certificates could serve as a working template for a domestic product launch.
