Ripple (XRP) Drops Major Announcement for Middle East and Africa Clients

Six years after establishing its first office in Dubai, Ripple has now doubled down on its presence in the region and in Africa by setting up a regional headquarters in the city’s International Financial Center (DIFC).

DIFC’s chief executive officer commented that Ripple’s expansion is a “strong signal of the confidence that world-leading digital assets firms have in Dubai as a global hub for blockchain technology.”

Ripple said the new HQ will increase its capacity to grow its local team as demand for regulated blockchain-powered payment and custody solutions continues to accelerate across the region.

The statement reads that it has been roughly six years since Ripple established its MEA regional HQs in Dubai in 2020, and it has grown its presence throughout the entire Middle East since then, which now represents a “significant share” of its global customer base.

Aside from setting up offices in Dubai, the company also secured in-principal approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority a couple of years back to expand its operations within the DIFC. In 2025, it became the first blockchain payments provider to be fully licensed by the DFSA, while its stablecoin, RLUSD, was recognized as a crypto token.

The new office will allow Ripple to expand support for clients and partners across the Middle East and Africa, such as already existing ones like Zand Bank, Ctrl Alt, Garanti BBVA, Absa Bank, and Chipper Cash.

“In recent years, the Middle East has become an increasingly vital driver of Ripple’s global growth. Our new regional headquarters is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to playing our part in the region’s upward trajectory. From our earliest days in the UAE, we have seen first-hand the appetite from local businesses for regulated, blockchain-powered payment infrastructure, an appetite that is only growing.

A larger team, based here in Dubai, will enable us to go further in supporting our clients and partners across the region and beyond,” commented Ripple’s Managing Director for the region, Reece Merrick.