MESA maps seven Gulf stablecoin rulebooks, signs Terminal 3 MoU

The Middle East Stablecoin Association (MESA) used its inaugural conference in Dubai on September 17, 2026 to publish a side-by-side map of seven Gulf stablecoin rulebooks and to formalize a non-commercial memorandum of understanding with Terminal 3, a Hong Kong digital identity firm. The MoU, dated July 2026, establishes joint research, public education and a GCC policy paper on digital identity and credential verification. MESA is incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre as a non-profit under DIFC law.

MESA chairman Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta framed the association’s purpose around regulatory fragmentation. The association catalogued five frameworks inside the UAE-spanning federal regulators, Dubai authorities and two free zones-plus regimes in Bahrain and the Qatar Financial Centre. MESA said it will publish free, open-access papers that map those rules and identify legal, compliance, operational and technical blockers for stablecoin payments.

A central finding presented at the conference concerned yield on regulated stablecoins. Bahrain’s Central Bank permits yield, including Shariah-compliant variants. Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority does not prohibit yield and includes language that contemplates yield payments. MESA reported that the positions of four UAE regulators remain under verification and warned that regulatory silence should not be read as a prohibition. The association also reported that no Middle Eastern regulator currently operates a formal “depeg” regime; existing frameworks focus on reserve requirements and disclosure to prevent a loss of peg but do not set rules for actions after a token loses parity.

The MoU with Terminal 3, signed by Dasgupta and Terminal 3 COO Joey Liu, sets three workstreams: freely available educational materials on KYC and verifiable credentials; a jointly authored research paper on digital identity in financial services; and a policy paper proposing standardized digital identity and credential verification approaches for GCC regulators. The agreement restricts commercial activity: MESA will not endorse products, lobby for members or provide firm-specific advice, and Terminal 3 may describe the relationship only with a pre-approved statement. Joint outputs must be open access, intellectual property will be shared equally, and both parties must comply with DIFC and UAE data protection laws. The MoU has an initial 12-month term with automatic one-year renewals and is governed by DIFC law.

MESA outlined a payments corridors program covering 15 routes, 13 anchored on the UAE and two on Bahrain. Position papers for UAE–United Kingdom, UAE–European Union and UAE–Japan are complete, with briefings in production for UAE–Hong Kong and UAE–Greater China. Corridor teams map end-to-end flows, assemble legal, compliance, banking, treasury, tax and technology specialists, identify blockers, and publish findings as public-interest research.

The association reported 299 members from 202 organizations across 21 countries, with about 79% of members based in the UAE. MESA is governed as a Non-Profit Incorporated Organisation under DIFC law and has committees for legal and compliance, banking, technology and education, treasury, marketing and market infrastructure. The group is recruiting three salaried roles-executive director, head of memberships and marketing director-while much work to date has been volunteer-led.

MESA listed a dozen papers in production on topics including reserve-derived yields, proof of reserves, tokenized bank money, tax and accounting, and Shariah-compliant stablecoin frameworks. Conference registrations exceeded 600, with 306 approved delegates from 250 organizations. MESA said upcoming public events include DIFC’s Future of Finance Week in November 2026 and ADGM Abu Dhabi Finance Week in December 2026, and it plans a second annual conference in early 2027.