ADFW's Fintech Abu Dhabi Points to a New Era of Finance Fuelled by Innovation and Disruption

ABU DHABI, UAE, Dec. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The third day of Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) 2025, ADGM's flagship event, featured Fintech Abu Dhabi and RESOLVE, which brought together the world's most influential leaders in finance, technology, legal and dispute resolution.

Under the overarching theme of 'Engineering the Capital of Capital', the day delivered a powerful combination of thought leadership, discussions on disruptive innovation and cutting-edge insights, showcasing Abu Dhabi's position as a future-focused financial hub and legal powerhouse.

Opening the day, H.E. Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei, Undersecretary of the Department of Economic Development Abu Dhabi & Chairman, ADGM Academy, said, "The future of finance will not be written by algorithms alone, but by people with vision, courage, and purpose. Through platforms like Fintech Abu Dhabi, we are not only anticipating what's next for the sector but actively building it. Today's insightful conversations reflect Abu Dhabi's ambition to become the launchpad for a new era of inclusive, intelligent, and resilient financial progress."

Fintech Abu Dhabi: The Next Chapter of Financial Innovation

The ninth edition of Fintech Abu Dhabi, now the MENA region's largest and most influential fintech gathering, highlighted the seismic shifts that are impacting financial services – from tokenisation and AI to digital banking and stablecoins.

The main stage hosted a series of powerful conversations and high-impact dialogues featuring some of the world's most influential financial leaders. The line-up included prominent figures from the global fintech ecosystem, such as Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase; Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle; Richard Teng, CEO of Binance; Jennifer Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton; Anthony Soohoo, CEO of MoneyGram; Ambareen Musa, CEO of GCC, Revolut; and many more.

The sessions explored key topics including digital credit, regulatory innovation, digital assets, institutional adoption and next-gen banking, offering candid insights from fintech CEOs, investors and senior banking executives. The session with Teng examined the volatility of crypto markets and posed the essential question: Can crypto ever mature into trusted infrastructure? Meanwhile, the CEOs of Revolut, Capital.com, Erebor Group and Lukka explored how fintech founders are prioritising speed, regulatory clarity, and trust as they scale in a climate that demands agility and resilience.

Senior banking leaders from State Street, Al Hilal Bank and Piraeus Group discussed how legacy institutions are evolving. From embracing AI to redefining the customer experience, the session provided a candid look at digitisation efforts inside the traditional banking architecture. Early-stage investment experts from FJ Labs and Standard Chartered Ventures unpacked their strategies for identifying billion-dollar startups before they become mainstream by focusing on pattern recognition, pricing discipline, and the emerging science of 'unicorn' discovery.

RESOLVE Explores the Theme of 'Courage'

In parallel, the fourth edition of RESOLVE 2025 convened under the theme 'Courage', focused on international dispute resolution and how legal systems must evolve in the face of rapid digital and market transformation. The forum brought together global legal experts, regulators, business leaders, and policymakers for a dynamic day of keynotes and discussions on cross-border crypto regulation, AI-driven legal strategies, and the legal implications of global capital markets.

H.E. Abdullah Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Justice, delivered a compelling keynote on "Justice with Courage", underscoring Abu Dhabi's leadership in setting progressive legal standards. ADGM Courts' Registrar & Chief Executive, Linda Fitz-Alan, opened the forum with a powerful message on navigating legal disruption with clarity and resolve. The day featured a high-calibre speaker lineup, including Matthew Lewis, Managing Director of Hintsa Performance, Netflix Co-Founder and Former CEO, Marc Randolph, and Professor Nancy Gleason of MBZUAI.

Breakout Events, Newcomers, Major Collaborations and Announcements

Running alongside the main events were other breakout events such as the AI Abu Dhabi Forum, Blockchain Abu Dhabi, Risk 4.0 Forum, Bloomberg's event on The AI Evolution: From Potential to Practicality,  and Eastpoint Digital Assets Forum. Throughout the day, closed-door summits such as the Web3 Leaders Roundtable - Presented by ADGM Emerging Tech and #Hashed and Stablecoin Dialogues were held with senior executives.

The third day of ADFW witnessed announcements from Galaxy Digital and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), which are setting up offices in ADGM. Another notable announcement for the day came from SAAS Properties, which officially unveiled its newest project – The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Al Maryah Island.

A total of 24 Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) were announced during the third day of ADFW. Partnerships were signed between local and international entities such as Blackrock, Finstreet, Swiss Re, RIQ, Kitopi Global, Lulu Financial Group, Crypto.com, 42 Abu Dhabi, Hanwha and Kresus.

ADFW continues for a final day with its featured event – Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum (ADSFF), and other key events will focus on sustainability and finance.

For more details on ADFW, visit www.adfw.com.

source: ADGM