The United Arab Emirates has enacted Federal Decree No. 6 of 2025, bringing decentralized finance (DeFi), Web3, stablecoin protocols, decentralized exchanges (DEX), and cross-chain bridges under central bank regulation. The new law, effective from September 2025, mandates that projects involved in payments, custody, lending, and investment must obtain compliance licenses by September 2026. Non-compliance could result in fines up to 1 billion dirhams (approximately $272 million) and criminal penalties. While self-custody wallets are not banned, wallet service providers offering regulated functions like payments or transfers to UAE users must seek licensing.