Binance’s CZ headlines as crypto crowd pours into Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is hosting both the sprawling Abu Dhabi Finance Week event and the Bitcoin MENA conference, drawing crypto, finance and institutional investors to the UAE’s capital from around the world.

Headlining the Bitcoin event is Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance better known as CZ, who was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in October after pleading guilty to violating money laundering laws.

Also appearing are Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman & CEO of the Dubai Multi-Commodity Centre; Abdulla Al Dhaheri, CEO of The Blockchain Center; Faisal Al Hammadi, Managing Partner at Further Ventures; and Ali Alnuaimi, Founder at Shafra.

Amid the gatherings, Binance received formal approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s regulatory authority to provide global platform services from Abu Dhabi via three licensed entities – an exchange, a clearing house, and a broker-dealer. Under the arrangement, Binance’s regulated operations are set to begin January 5, 2026.

Missing this year is Eric Trump, who spoke to a packed hall last year before Donald Trump took office and promised that his father would be the most pro-crypto President ever. Excitement over crypto appeared not to be dampened much by the 30% slide in Bitcoin’s value.

“This year has certainly been an interesting one where we started well, went sideways, came a little bit lower and leveraged positions,” Sam North, a market analyst at eToro, told The Circuit at the conference. “But overall, I think it has been a good year.”

Eric Trump returns to UAE to pitch crypto at Dubai conference

Eric Trump, who drew enthusiastic hoots and hollers in Abu Dhabi last December when he told the Bitcoin MENA conference that his dad would unleash the power of cryptocurrencies, returns to the UAE this week to kick off Dubai’s TOKEN2049 summit.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s 41-year-old second son promises to deliver another rousing address at the gathering, which starts on Wednesday, as crypto fever builds with the imminent issue of the UAE’s own dirham-denominated stablecoin.

ADQ, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, together with First Abu Dhabi Bank and International Holding Co., announced on Monday that the digital currency will be fully regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE to build investor confidence and lessen the uncertainty inherent to bitcoins and other blockchain-based money. No date was given for the UAE coin’s debut.

“The launch of the stablecoin marks a pivotal step in our commitment to strengthening the UAE’s digital infrastructure ecosystem,” said Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, Managing Director and Group CEO of ADQ.

“As we move forward towards an increasingly digital and connected economy, the stablecoin will provide a solution that is secure, efficient and scalable, while creating new opportunities for growth and value creation,” he said.

Alongside Trump, the two-day TOKEN2049 event will draw top names in the crypto industry, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao; OKX founder and CEO Star Xu; Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets; and Mathew McDermott, Head of Digital Assets for Goldman Sachs.

Eric Trump to deliver keynote at Abu Dhabi crypto conference

This week’s Bitcoin MENA conference in Abu Dhabi will showcase some of the key cryptocurrency players in the incoming Trump administration, including the President-elect’s son Eric, who will deliver the keynote to a crowd of 6,000 at the ADNEC center.

Also speaking at the Gulf’s biggest crypto gathering is billionaire Steve Witkoff, who has been appointed the new White House envoy for the Middle East, Reuters reports. Witkoff is co-founder of World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency platform launched in September that Donald Trump and his family helped form.

Both Trump and Witkoff will be holding “whales-only” chats in the conference’s VIP lounge, where admission requires a $9,999 pass for whales, the crypto nickname for large players who have potential to move markets, the news agency said.

Other speakers with close ties to World Liberty Financial include Justin Sun, the 32-year-old Chinese founder of blockchain platform Tron, Reuters reports.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who served a four-month U.S. prison sentence this year for crypto-connected money-laundering law violations, will also hold a whale session at the conference.