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Dubai, UAE, 10 September 2026.
The Middle East Stablecoin Association (MESA) has announced it will host the Middle East Stablecoin (MESC) Forum in Dubai on 17 September 2026, with the support of The Wealth Today.
MESA is the region's first industry body for digital money, spanning tokenised deposits, central bank digital currencies, tokenised real-world assets and the wider digital assets ecosystem, with an exclusive focus on stablecoins at the centre of that landscape. Within three months of its incorporation in the DIFC, MESA brings the region's full digital money ecosystem into a single room: regulators, banks, global institutions, stablecoin issuers, legal advisers and corporate treasurers, to advance the GCC's stablecoin agenda from framework to implementation.
MESC Forum is built around a different premise: that the Gulf's stablecoin market will be defined by how effectively industry and regulators coordinate. Alongside the keynotes and panels, the programme dedicates sessions to regulatory dialogue across GCC jurisdictions.
Uniting The Ecosystem, Not Just An Industry
The speaker roster spans the full value chain MESA was built to convene: financial regulators, global asset managers and payments networks, leading regional banks, corporate treasury leaders, and the legal and compliance advisers shaping the frameworks around them all share the stage. That breadth is the point. MESA was established as a neutral convening platform rather than a vendor showcase, and MESC Forum is the first time that mandate has been showcased in a single room, on a single day.
Sessions tackle the questions currently defining institutional digital money in the Gulf: operationalising GCC stablecoin regulation from framework to live licensing, how stablecoins, tokenised deposits and tokenised money market funds will compete and converge by 2030, and how the region's compliance standards measure up against MiCA and other global benchmarks. The day concludes with closing remarks followed by a networking reception, bringing speakers, members and guests together to continue the conversation.
A Defining Moment For The Region
Dr. Bhaskar Dasgupta, Chairman and Founder of MESA, said: "Stablecoins are moving from the edge of crypto markets into the core of financial infrastructure, and that shift will not be led by industry or regulators alone. MESC Forum is where the region's stablecoin ecosystem stops talking past itself and starts building together, regulators, banks, issuers and advisers in the same room, working through the same questions. This is the first time that has happened at this scale in the Gulf, and it will not be the last."
The Forum also positions the Gulf, and MESA specifically, at the front of a conversation that is still being written globally. Regulators from Europe to Asia are racing to define their own stablecoin standards, and the region that convenes industry and supervisors most effectively now stands to shape those standards rather than simply adopt them later.
MESA's founding premise, since its DIFC incorporation, has been that the GCC can be a standard-setter rather than a standard-taker. MESC Forum is the first time that ambition has been tested in public, with the regulators, banks and institutions who will decide the outcome in the room together.
Building on MESA's DIFC foundation
The Forum follows MESA's incorporation in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as a Non-Profit Incorporated Organisation earlier this year, a milestone that established the region's first industry body for digital money with an exclusive focus on stablecoins, and gave MESA a formal governance platform for policy dialogue, education, research and standards development. MESC Forum is the first major public convening to build on that foundation, translating MESA's public interest mandate into a live, action-oriented programme for the ecosystem it was created to serve.
About the Middle East Stablecoin Association (MESA):
The Middle East Stablecoin Association (MESA) is the region's first industry body for digital money, spanning tokenised deposits, central bank digital currencies, tokenised real-world assets and the wider digital assets ecosystem, with an exclusive focus on stablecoins at the centre of that landscape.
MESA is incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as a Non-Profit Incorporated Organisation. MESA convenes stablecoin issuers, exchanges, banks, legal advisers, fintech infrastructure providers, venture capital firms and corporate treasury leaders, and engages policymakers and regulators, in support of the safe, transparent and interoperable growth of digital money across the Middle East.
MESA operates in the public interest and does not promote, endorse or confer commercial advantage on any individual organisation.
Website: www.mesaofficial.com
Disclaimer:
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice; no material herein should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and readers should conduct their own independent research or consult a qualified professional.
