MESA to host Gulf’s first stablecoin forum in Dubai

The Middle East Stablecoin Association will host the Middle East Stablecoin (MESC) Forum in Dubai on 17 September 2026. The one-day event will bring GCC regulators, banks, stablecoin issuers, legal advisers and corporate treasurers together to discuss stablecoin policy and steps toward licensing and market rollout.

The forum will gather participants across the digital money value chain, including financial regulators, global asset managers, payments networks, regional banks and fintech infrastructure providers. Sessions will include regulatory dialogue across GCC jurisdictions and panels focused on practical steps to operationalise regional rules for stablecoins.

Programme topics include the transition from policy frameworks to licensing and live operations, the interaction between stablecoins, tokenised deposits and tokenised money market funds through 2030, and comparisons of Gulf compliance standards with international regimes such as the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA).

Panels will address compliance and operational questions including cross-border interoperability, custody and settlement arrangements and supervisory cooperation among GCC states. Organisers describe the forum as a neutral convening platform with a public interest mandate rather than a commercial showcase. The day will end with closing remarks followed by a networking reception for speakers, members and guests.

MESA was incorporated earlier this year in the Dubai International Financial Centre as a Non-Profit Incorporated Organisation. Within three months of its DIFC incorporation, the association assembled a public programme aimed at moving the Gulf’s stablecoin agenda from abstract policy to coordinated implementation.

Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta, chairman and founder of MESA, commented: “Stablecoins are moving from the edge of crypto markets into the core of financial infrastructure, and that shift will not be led by industry or regulators alone. MESC Forum is where the region’s stablecoin ecosystem stops talking past itself and starts building together, regulators, banks, issuers and advisers in the same room, working through the same questions. This is the first time that has happened at this scale in the Gulf, and it will not be the last.”