Stablecoins still represent just 1% of global payment flows, despite explosive growth. Miriam Kiwan, advisor and former Senior Vice President and VP for Circle MEA, joins Wall Street to MENA to explain the gap.
In July 2026, the Central Bank of the UAE integrated stablecoin rules directly into its Payment Token Services Regulation, treating stablecoins as a payment instrument rather than a trading asset. That single shift changes the language entirely, from crypto terms to banking terms: reserves, settlement, finality.
Miriam breaks down:
- Why the UAE’s approach differs from Bahrain’s issuance-first rulebook and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030-paced rollout
- The five-step roadmap institutions need to build stablecoin payment capability, from use case to corridor partners
- Why the blockchain rail is the easy part, and liquidity on the receiving end is the hard part
- Why currency-distressed markets like Lebanon see stablecoins used to save, not to pay
- The real bottleneck holding stablecoins back: corridor regulation, not token regulation
Miriam Kiwan is an MFTA member and advisor with senior leadership experience at Circle MEA.
MENA Fintech Association | Wall Street to MENA