stable coins

Story: IHC’s $30 Million Dirham-Backed Stablecoin Deal Is a Gulf First

By Dan Saada

1 / 15

What DDSC Actually Is. DDSC is a stablecoin backed by the UAE's national currency, the dirham.

2 / 15

Why IHC's Move Matters. It's one thing for a startup or a crypto-native firm to experiment with stablecoins.

3 / 15

What Could Come Next. The broader question now is whether other UAE companies follow IHC's lead.

4 / 15

International Holding Company just pulled off something nobody in the Gulf has done at this scale.

5 / 15

Thirty million dollars. Not a pilot. Not a sandbox test. An actual live transaction, settled in a dirham-backed digital currency that only recently launched.

6 / 15

DDSC is a stablecoin backed by the UAE's national currency, the dirham. The whole point of pegging it to the dirham is stability — you don't get the wild price swings that come…

7 / 15

The stablecoin is designed to handle digital payments both inside the UAE and across borders.

8 / 15

It's one thing for a startup or a crypto-native firm to experiment with stablecoins. It's another thing entirely when a heavyweight institutional player like IHC puts $30 million…

9 / 15

Large institutions don't move this kind of money through an untested system without doing serious due diligence first.

10 / 15

See also: ECB Puts Euro Stablecoin Growth on Notice, Warns EU Ministers of Bank and Policy Risks

11 / 15

And the timing isn't random. Global interest in stablecoins has surged in recent years, with governments and central banks from Singapore to Europe actively working on digital…

12 / 15

IHC leaning into DDSC is kind of the logical next step.

13 / 15

The broader question now is whether other UAE companies follow IHC's lead. One $30 million transaction, however historic, doesn't reshape a financial system on its own.

14 / 15

Cross-border trade is probably the most obvious near-term use case. If DDSC can meaningfully cut the cost and time of settling international transactions, sectors like…

15 / 15

Read also: Fenwick & Wests $54 Million FTX Deal Leaves a $525 Million Lawsuit Looming

The Currency Analytics

Want the full story?