Robinhood Gets Dubai Green Light for 2027 Bitcoin and Stock Trading Launch in Middle East

On Wednesday, Robinhood Markets said in a statement that it had been authorized by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to provide retail trading and custody services across 10 asset classes. Those include bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, equities, ETFs and investment tokens.

The trading platform is scheduled to start operating in the region in 2027, basing itself at a new office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). That special economic zone is to become the company’s Middle East and North Africa headquarters.

Robinhood MENA will be led by Salah Kaddoura, who takes on the posts of senior executive officer and president. The DFSA recognizes that role, so he will be the person regulators contact. He will assemble the Dubai team before the launch.

Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s chairman and CEO, said in the company statement: “The DIFC is one of the world’s most important financial hubs, and our expansion there brings us closer to building a global platform that enables anyone, anywhere to own the highest quality financial assets.”

JUST IN: Robinhood has been approved by the Dubai Financial Services Authority to launch Bitcoin and digital asset trading in the Middle East

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 22, 2026

Robinhood’s expansion over the years

Dubai adds to a series of moves outside the US, where the app built its reputation among young investors trading single stocks.

The company launched in the UK in 2024, started full operations in the European Union last year, received in-principle approval in April to offer brokerage services in Singapore, and completed its acquisition of Canadian crypto platform WonderFi in June.

Back in the US, it rolled out weekend trading and perpetual futures in September. More than one million customers are now counted outside the US, the company says.

Johann Kerbrat, the executive in charge of crypto and international at Robinhood, tied the Dubai move to a wave of new retail investors in the region. Kerbrat was also the executive who disclosed on October 7 that Robinhood had placed $25 million of bitcoin on its own balance sheet, the first time the firm held BTC as a corporate asset rather than for customers.

The DFSA has given Robinhood the go-ahead to store client digital assets, not merely to route trades. For a firm that needed years to allow bitcoin withdrawals in the US, getting approval to act as custodian from the outset in a new jurisdiction speaks to the maturity of its crypto operation.

Robinhood is entering a financial center that has kept expanding despite the war with Iran and wider regional tension. The DIFC topped 10,000 active registered firms this year and is still pulling in global players, with Ken Griffin’s Citadel among them.

A cluster of new towers with 600,000 square feet of commercial space was opened in March, with Deutsche Bank and Moody’s among the tenants, according to Bloomberg. Proprietary trading firm Maven announced this week that it will shut its New York office while moving its focus to Dubai.

There will be plenty of competition. The DIFC had 72 authorized brokerages on its books as of March 31, and several crypto-native exchanges are licensed by Dubai’s separate Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

Robinhood has not yet specified which countries will be included when trading goes live, what its pricing structure will be, or how it will define “eligible investors,” and that final point will determine how large the addressable market is.