Coinbase Tests Regulated Capital Markets in Abu Dhabi

Coinbase's foray into Abu Dhabi's tokenized securities market has reached new milestones. The company, which has been circling the region for nearly three years, has announced Project Diamond, an institutional platform that uses Base, Coinbase Prime custody, Web3 Wallet and USDC to issue, distribute and mature a short-term digital debt instrument.

This technical demonstration is significant because it marks the first time Coinbase has tested a regulated capital markets product in a specific jurisdiction. The project received in-principle approval from Abu Dhabi's Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to enter ADGM's RegLab sandbox.

BTECH Holdings Limited, an affiliate of Binance, was the first to list tokenized digital securities on ADGM's Official List. However, Coinbase is close behind, with its own strategy becoming more apparent as Mubadala Capital launched a tokenized access to one of its private markets strategies with KAIO.

This move has given Coinbase cover in Abu Dhabi, where the company can now offer regulated issuers meeting investors across several networks. While limits still apply to these products - Project Diamond began with digital debt, not a full public stock exchange, and BTECH's bStocks are issued by a Binance group affiliate - they are no longer the same as failure.