Liv Digital Bank, a subsidiary of Emirates NBD, has launched a retail cryptocurrency offering via its Liv X mobile banking app. State controlled Emirates NBD is the largest bank in Dubai and the second biggest in the UAE.
For the cryptocurrency solution, it partnered with local firm Aquanow, which received its license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) last month. Emirates NBD recently invested in Zodia Custody, which will act as digital asset custodian. Zodia was founded by Standard Chartered and Northern Trust and has other banking investors.
“Offering cryptocurrency on Liv X is the next step towards the overall vision of Liv being a pioneer in innovation and excellence,” said Marwan Hadi, Emirates NBD’s group head, retail banking and wealth management. “With the highest crypto adoption rate in the UAE, we are keen to launch our own virtual asset offering to capitalise on this trend.”
Last May Liv Bank signed a deal to start offering tokenized real world assets (RWA) to its clients. It views this as an important path to wealth management for Gen Z and millennials.
Outside of cryptocurrency, the parent bank is leaning into tokenized deposits for cross border payments. Emirates NBD signed up to join the Partior network, a DLT-based cross border payments network founded by DBS Bank, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and Temasek.
Ledger Insights Research has published a report on bank-issued stablecoins and tokenized deposits featuring more than 70 projects. Find out more here.
