Zand, an AI and blockchain-powered digital bank, has announced a strategic partnership with Ripple to advance the UAE’s digital economy through stablecoin and blockchain innovations. The collaboration will focus on leveraging Zand’s AED-backed stablecoin (AEDZ) and Ripple’s USD-backed stablecoin (RLUSD) to enable secure, efficient, and transparent financial solutions.
Zand and @Ripple, the leading provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions across traditional and digital finance, are partnering to help advance and support the digital economy, with innovative solutions powered by the Zand AED (AEDZ) stablecoin and Ripple’s USD (RLUSD)… pic.twitter.com/8JXqjJgmTw
— Zand (@Official_Zand) February 10, 2026
Bringing stablecoins to mainstream finance
The partnership will explore multiple initiatives, including support for RLUSD within Zand’s regulated digital asset custody, the potential for direct liquidity solutions between AEDZ and RLUSD, and the issuance of AEDZ on the XRP Ledger, a public blockchain. AEDZ is the UAE’s first multi-chain AED-backed stablecoin, fully backed one-to-one by AED reserves held in segregated and regulated accounts with audited smart contracts. RLUSD, similarly, is backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US government bonds, and other high-quality reserves, with regular third-party attestations ensuring transparency and trust.
Michael Chan, CEO of Zand, said the partnership could “unlock powerful new use cases as traditional finance moves on-chain” and “revolutionize how both governments and businesses engage with trusted blockchain solutions in the UAE.” Reece Merrick, Ripple’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, emphasized that the collaboration supports the UAE’s pioneering digital economy and aims to provide “the most secure, transparent, and efficient blockchain-powered financial tools available today.”
Stablecoins and the UAE digital economy
The partnership comes as the UAE continues to prioritize digital asset adoption through its Digital Economy Strategy, which aims to double the digital economy’s contribution to non-oil GDP by 2032.
Industry projections suggest the global stablecoin market could reach $4 trillion in the coming years, driven by rising institutional adoption, the growth of decentralized finance, and increased use of tokenized assets for payments and financial operations. Zand and Ripple’s joint initiatives aim to position the UAE at the forefront of this rapidly expanding sector.
Meanwhile, Ripple secured preliminary approval for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator.
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