Robinhood Markets has received approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority to offer retail trading and custody across a range of financial products, including bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, equities, exchange-traded funds and investment tokens.
The company plans to launch the service in 2027 from a new headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre, or DIFC. The Dubai office is intended to serve as Robinhood’s base for the Middle East and North Africa, expanding the US-founded trading platform’s international footprint.
According to Bitcoin Magazine, the DFSA authorization covers 10 asset classes and allows Robinhood to hold clients’ digital assets in custody, rather than simply routing their trades. The company has not yet announced which countries will be included at launch, how its pricing will work or how it will define “eligible investors.” Those details will help determine which customers can access the service and the scale of the opportunity.
What the Dubai approval covers
The DFSA is the financial regulator for the DIFC, a special economic zone within Dubai. Robinhood’s authorization gives it a regulated foundation to provide both trading and custody services from the emirate.
Custody is a significant part of the approval for cryptocurrency users. A platform that offers custody holds digital assets on behalf of customers, while a trading-only service may execute or route orders without taking responsibility for safeguarding the assets. In this case, the company has been cleared to hold client digital assets from the start of its Dubai operations.
Robinhood said its regional platform will include bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as well as traditional market products such as shares and ETFs. Investment tokens are also included among the authorized asset classes.
Salah Kaddoura has been appointed senior executive officer and president of Robinhood MENA. The position is recognized by the DFSA, making Kaddoura the executive responsible for the local operation from a regulatory perspective. He will build the Dubai team before the planned 2027 launch.
“The DIFC is one of the world’s most important financial hubs, and our expansion there brings us closer to building a global platform that enables anyone, anywhere to own the highest quality financial assets,” Robinhood Chairman and Chief Executive Vlad Tenev said in the company’s statement.
Part of a wider international push
The Dubai move follows several steps by Robinhood to expand outside the United States. The company entered the United Kingdom in 2024 and began full operations in the European Union the following year. It received in-principle approval for brokerage services in Singapore in April and completed the acquisition of Canadian cryptocurrency platform WonderFi in June.
Robinhood also says it has more than one million customers outside the US. At home, the company added weekend trading and perpetual futures in September, broadening the products available through its platform.
Johann Kerbrat, who leads Robinhood’s crypto and international operations, presented the Dubai expansion as a response to growing interest from retail investors in the region. The move also comes after Robinhood disclosed on October 7 that it had placed $25 million of bitcoin on its own balance sheet. That was the first time the company had held bitcoin as a corporate asset rather than holding it for customers.
The DIFC gives Robinhood a base in an established financial center. The district passed 10,000 active registered firms this year and has attracted global companies, including Citadel. In March, it opened a group of towers offering 600,000 square feet of commercial space, with Deutsche Bank and Moody’s among the tenants, according to the source material.
The market will nevertheless be competitive. The DIFC had 72 authorized brokerages as of March 31, while several cryptocurrency-focused exchanges operate under licenses from Dubai’s separate Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 23:38-23:39 on October 22, 2026, showed a broadly weaker digital-asset market:
- Bitcoin was trading at $81,208.78, down 3.61% over 24 hours and 1.11% over seven days.
- Ethereum Name Service was at $5.4919, down 4.64% over both periods.
- RedStone stood at $0.13975, down 6.12% in 24 hours and 9.66% over seven days.
- Propy was priced at $0.34424, down 0.92% over 24 hours and 7.19% over seven days.
Robinhood’s Dubai approval does not set a launch date more specific than 2027, and the company has not disclosed the countries or customer categories that will be covered. Its next steps will include building the local team and clarifying access, fees and product availability before the regional platform goes live.
