Coinbase, theU.S.’s largestcrypto exchange, will be based out of Abu Dhabi Global Marketplace (ADGM), from where it has beengranted a licenseto arrange deals in investments andsecurely holddigital assetstofacilitatethelaunch of tokenizedsecurities. These willbe backed by real shares and issued under ADGM’s regulatory framework.
Investors will also be able to hold the assets in digital wallets,eliminatingthe need for abrokerage account or a correspondent banking relationship.
“This is the most significant step we have taken yet toward building the infrastructure for a more open, more accessible global financial system,” the crypto exchange said in a statement announcing the decision last week.
Abu Dhabi is keen to become a major player in thatshift. In2018, ADGM issued one of the world’s first regulatory frameworks for virtual assets.
The new hub forms part of Coinbase’s wider expansion in the UAE. The company already runs Project Diamond in Abu Dhabi, which focuses ondigital debt for institutional investors, while its derivatives business is based in Dubai.
More broadly,the Gulf has been leveraging its sovereign wealth fundsto invest in tokenization.
Global consulting firm Kearneypredicts thatclose to $500billionof GCC assets will be represented on blockchain by 2030,led by private markets,funds, and bank deposits.
You can read my full piecehereon how the UAE is buildingitstokenization industry.
Melissa Hancock
As ever, thanks for reading, and do keep in touch with your thoughts and ideas.
melissa.hancock@fortune.com
Qatar’s first EV factory will put Gulf heat to the test
Qatar is gearing up to launch its first electric vehicle factory, producing cars specifically engineered to withstand the Gulf’s extreme heat and challenging climate.
Doha-based JTA International Investment Holding and the UK-basedWattElectric Vehicle Company havestruck a deal to establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing plantthat will design, engineer, and manufacture a new generation of EVs.
The focus will be on advanced heat management and battery performance,given temperatures exceeding 40°C can cut battery range by as much as 22%, dissuading potential buyers whofrequentlynavigate long desert routes.
The facility aims to start production in early 2028,with an initial run of about 5,000 vehicles a year,comprisedof passenger cars and delivery vans.
It will first target the domestic market before expanding exports throughout the GCC and selected international markets. JTA has saidthe longer-term ambition is toestablishQatar as a regionalcenterfor EV manufacturing and clean mobility.
TheGCC electric vehicle market is valued at $11.64 billionand is projected to reach $31.66 billion by2031,according to Mordor Intelligence.
“Early-mover policy mandates, sovereign-wealth funding, and a rapid build-out of ultra-fast public chargers are synchronizing to accelerate adoption across every Gulf state,” noted the market intelligence firm.
TheUAE is currently the Middle East’s largest market for EV sales, accounting fornearly 50%of total sales, according to the International Energy Agency’s GlobalEV Outlook 2026report. It marked the second consecutive year that it took the top spot.
Gulf tourism starts to recover but Dubai lags
Despitethe deadlock in U.S.-Iran peace talks, there are early signs of a recovery in Gulf tourism, according toU.K.-based CapitalEconomics.
In a note published on Monday, the global macroeconomic research firm highlighted how aviation data suggests a revival is takinghold, particularly in intra-GCC travel.
Available seat kilometres—a measure ofpassenger-carryingcapacity—are rebounding quickly among Middle East carriers, while passenger load factors, whichindicatehow full flights are, reached76.3%in June, close to their pre-war average.
However, it noted that the Gulf’s tourism markets havedifferent characteristics, meaning their near-term prospects are likely to vary.
Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector should prove more resilient, given the large share of visitors traveling for religious purposes to destinations that are geographically farther from the conflict.
Meanwhile, Bahrain relies heavily on regional visitors, particularly from Saudi Arabia, who have proved more resilient thantravelersfrom further afield.
By contrast, the UAE’s heavy reliance on visitors from outside the Gulf means its tourism sector may face a longer road torecovery. Hoteloccupancy rates in Dubai were down over 30% in June comparedwith thesame month last year.
“And these figures are flattered somewhat by the fact that many hotels have closed for renovation due to the lack of demand,” noted Capital Economics.
S&PGlobal’sDubai Economy Tracker shows that the tourism sector indicator has barely moved since its March decline.
The contribution of tourism to the economies of the GCC states varies significantly. Bahrain and the UAE are the most reliant on the sector, whichdirectlycontributesa respective 7.1% and 6.2%to GDP, while it accounts for just 0.6% of Kuwait’s GDP
“The drag from tourism will become larger if the recovery doesn’t gain more momentum by the peak season in Q4,” said the research firm.
Gulf energy exports stage modest recovery amid Hormuz chokehold
Saudi Arabiaincreasedcrude outputto 8.2million barrels per day in July, up from 7.1 million the month before,according to a report seen by Bloomberg.
Among the seven OPEC members thatsubmittedtheir production figures directly to the group’s secretariat, output rose by 1.88 million barrels a day, drivenlargely byincreases in Iraq and Saudi Arabia amid a temporary cessation of hostilities.
However, Saudi’s output still sits several million barrels a day below pre-conflict levels.
Meanwhile,LNG loadings from Qatar’s Ras Laffan export complex climbed to their highest level since March, with the10-day moving average reaching roughly 80,000 tons last week.
But this is still a stark 60% drop compared to the same period last year.
Qatar haslargely haltedLNG shipments through Hormuz since fighting in the region resumed last month. Two tankers carrying Qatari LNG were hit in July.
Between March and June,LNG loadings from Qatar and the UAE declined by 35 billion cubic metersyear-on-year, according to theInternational Energy Agency.
However, this steep decline was partly offset by higher LNG output from new projects in the U.S. and Africa,plus betterfeedgasavailability from legacy producers,which grew by almost 18%year-on-year during this period.
The Big Number
The 3 things we enjoyed reading this week
- Iran’s push to charge ships for passing through the Strait of Hormuz could mark amajor shift away from the traditional “freedom of the seas.”If Hormuz becomes a toll road, other countries could follow suit at strategic chokepoints such as the Strait of Malacca and Gibraltar, raising shipping costs and global inflation. AsFortune’sJordan Blum argues, this could accelerate a broader breakdown of the post-WWII maritime order, although some analysts believe Iran mayultimately usetollsmainly asa bargaining chip for sanctions relief.
- After President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in mid-June, Iran’s hard-line leaders huddled in Tehran and beganpreparing for a wider confrontation with the U.S. and its allies.According to Iranian and Arab officials cited by theWall Street Journal,Tehran has since strengthened the Revolutionary Guard’s control over its nearly 200,000 strong military, accelerated missile and drone production, and coordinated with allied militias in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon to expand pressure on U.S. and Gulf interests. The Revolutionary Guard has also devised new plans for further escalation including pre-emptive strikes. Among the options: sabotaging internet cables in the Persian Gulf, creating political unrest in countries with Shia communities such as Kuwait and Bahrain, and potentially even launching ground operations in Kuwait
- The UAE’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) isleading a project to help AI better understand Arab culture and the region’s many dialects. Researchers have builtArabCulture-Dialogue, the first benchmark for testing whether leading AI models can understand and converse in Modern Standard Arabic and 13 national dialects. The study found that, while models are often capable of grasping what Arabic speakers say, they struggle when asked to speak in specific dialects, particularly Emirati and North African Arabic. The researchers say the findings could help lay the groundwork for more capable Arabic-language AI.
