Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: CRCL), one of the world’s internet financial platform companies, announced a regulatory milestone in the United Arab Emirates as it strengthens its presence in the region. Circle has secured a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM, the International Financial Centre (IFC) of Abu Dhabi, to operate as a Money Services Provider in the IFC.
Alongside this regulatory milestone, Circle has appointed Dr. Saeeda Jaffar as MD for Circle MEA.
Dr. Jaffar, who will join from Visa, where she “serves as SVP and Group Country Manager for the GCC, will lead Circle’s regional strategy, deepen partnerships with FIs and enterprises, and accelerate the adoption of digital dollars and onchain payment solutions across the UAE and MEA markets.”
With the FSP license, Circle says it is positioned to “expand regulated payment and settlement use cases in the UAE for businesses, developers, and FIs.”
These developments advance Circle’s mission to deliver digital dollars onchain while supporting the UAE’s role in “building an open, transparent, innovation-forward financial system.”
This now further builds on Circle’s footprint in the UAE, including the Dubai International Financial Centre’s recognition of USDC and EURC as the first stablecoins “under the DFSA’s crypto token regime earlier this year.”
It seemingly reflects Circle’s progress as “a public company advancing digital money and onchain utility for enterprises worldwide.”
As reported recently, Circle Internet Group, Inc. announced that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank, First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A.
After it is fully approved, First National Digital Currency Bank would operate as a federally regulated trust bank, “subject to OCC oversight, and would oversee the management of the USDC Reserve on behalf of Circle’s U.S. issuer.”
The conditional approval represents an important milestone in Circle’s efforts to further “strengthen the infrastructure supporting USDC – the world’s largest regulated stablecoin – and meet requirements under the GENIUS Act, which became U.S. law in July 2025.”
As a national trust bank, Circle’s First National Digital Currency Bank would enhance the regulatory “oversight of the USDC Reserve, while enabling Circle to offer fiduciary digital asset custody and related services to institutional customers.”
The charter would reportedly help Fintech firm Circle “align its U.S. operations with regulatory standards for stablecoins and digital financial infrastructure.”
Circle submitted its application to the OCC on June 30, 2025.
The OCC’s conditional approval builds on Circle’s history of “pursuing regulatory pathways across jurisdictions.”
In 2015, Circle says it became one of the first global companies “to receive a BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and remains engaged with NYDFS, the state digital asset regulator in the U.S.”
In 2024, Circle became the first global stablecoin issuer “to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework.”
Circle has various e-money and payments licenses in the UK, Singapore, and Bermuda; was reportedly one of the first global stablecoins to enter an undertaking “with the Canadian Securities Administrators to satisfy the country’s Value-Referenced Crypto Asset requirements; and in 2025 received a license from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority to operate as a money services provider.”