The UAE has just witnessed an exclusive shift in the crypto regulation. Particularly, the United Arab Emirates government has officially implemented Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025 to bring the oversight of DeFi, DEXs, Web3, and Stablecoins under the Central Bank. As per the local reports, the new law of the UAE focuses on the projects dealing with investment, lending, custody, or payment services within the world of digital assets. Hence, the development is anticipated to regulate the next-gen financial markets to increase investor confidence and minimize risks.

UAE Enforces Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025 for Central Bank-Led Oversight of Web3, Stablecoins, DEX

With the announcement of the new financial oversight framework under UAE’s Central Bank, the government intends to secure the capital of residents with comprehensive regulation. In this respect, the official implementation of the Federal Decree Law No. 6 of 2025 requires the financial institutions related to Web3, stablecoins, DeFi, and DEXs to secure licenses. Thus, they must acquire the needed licenses before or by September 2026 to maintain their compliance. On the other hand, the failure in doing so could pave the way for considerable penalties reaching as high as AED 1 billion ($272M) along with likely criminal consequences.

Apart from that, this implementation serves as a significantly impactful regulatory development in the digital asset sector within the UAE. While discussing this move, Irina Heaver, a regional crypto lawyer, described the development as one of the key top regulatory shifts. Adding to this, Heaver asserted that the Federal Decree Law No. 6 widens the oversight of the central bank to include infrastructure providers, middleware, and protocols. As a result, any entity enabling, investment, custody, lending, or payments now comes within the regulatory perimeter of the UAE.

Solidifying Crypto Oversight with Severe Penalties Targeting Non-Compliant Decentralized Entities

Simultaneously, the decree also eliminates the formerly established “just code” defense, which was often utilized by decentralized companies to circumvent regulatory responsibilities. Keeping this in view, the liquidity routing platforms, cross-chain bridges, stablecoin-related entities, and decentralized exchanges have to accomplish their regulatory requirements. However, for non-compliance, they could face criminal sanctions and multimillion-dollar fines along with other severe penalties.