The United Arab Emirates is set to invest $1 billion in Loft Orbital through Marlan Space, a subsidiary of International Holding Company (IHC), according to Odaily, citing lemonde. Loft Orbital is a space AI startup founded jointly in France and the United States. The funding will be used to build an observation satellite constellation made up of 50 satellites equipped with AI capabilities. The planned system differs from the traditional satellite model, where raw data is sent back to Earth for analysis. Loft Orbital aims to process images, video and measurement data directly in space using AI. Under that setup, AI agents would identify anomalies within seconds and issue alerts without waiting for ground-based review. The report did not disclose a deployment timeline or other financial terms beyond the announced investment size.

Laser Digital, Nomura Group’s digital-assets arm, has taken a position in ZIGChain’s ZIG token and will help structure and supervise risk for a pipeline of onchain private-credit products built by ZIG Markets. The partnership places a Nomura subsidiary in an underwriting role tied to emerging-market private credit, a tokenized RWA segment that RWA.xyz values at $7.12 billion out of a $37.64 billion market. According to ZIGChain co-founder and chief commercial officer Abdul Rafay Gadit, ZIG Markets has originated more than $50 million so far and recorded zero defaults over the past 10 months, while cautioning that the period does not cover a full cycle. The firms are targeting at least $100 million in total value locked across vault products, with internal milestones of $25 million by September and $100 million by the end of November, though Gadit said neither date is a hard deadline. The products are expected to be distributed through exchanges, neobanks, wallets and DeFi protocols, with access open to both institutional and retail investors. Exclusions apply to UN- and OFAC-sanctioned jurisdictions as well as residents of the United States and Russia. The first product is expected in about three weeks to a month.

New 13F filings show Abu Dhabi-backed Mubadala and Al Warda Investments held a combined 20.9 million shares of BlackRock’s IBIT worth about $1.139 billion at the end of 2025.

Arkham Intelligence reveals the UAE holds approximately 6,300 BTC ($700M) via state-linked mining operations—primarily Citadel Mining—making it one of the largest sovereign Bitcoin holders without relying on seizures or market purchases.

ADI Chain said it has completed a $50 million financing round, with IHC participating in the investment. The project is focused on stablecoin settlement and the development of financial infrastructure. According to the announcement cited by ChainCatcher, its ecosystem partnerships extend across compliant stablecoins, tokenized securities, institutional payments, Chainlink, ZKsync, and major crypto wallets. No further details on the financing structure, valuation, or other investors were disclosed in the provided brief. The update positions ADI Chain around payment and infrastructure use cases tied to digital assets and related financial services.

ADI Chain is positioning itself differently from the typical public chain or Layer 2 playbook. Instead of starting with crypto-native activity such as DeFi, NFT trading, memecoins, or airdrop-driven user growth, the project is targeting governments, banks, financial institutions, and enterprise use cases from the outset. Its strategy is to bring existing real-world financial flows on-chain first, then let those flows create recurring utility for $ADI. The model is most visible in stablecoins. The article highlights $DDSC, a dirham-pegged stablecoin tied to FAB, IHC, ADQ, and a UAE central bank authorization framework, as well as $PUSD, a Shariah-compliant stablecoin aimed at treasury departments, exchanges, and payment processors. IHC previously disclosed a 110 million dirham transaction on ADI Chain via $DDSC, described as one of the region’s largest single stablecoin transactions. Beyond payments and settlement, ADI Chain is also mapping out institutional asset infrastructure through custody, issuance, and tokenization partnerships. BNY, Finstreet, and the ADI Foundation plan to offer institutional-grade digital asset custody within ADGM and extend it to ADI Chain, while SettleMint is involved in digital securities infrastructure under the same regulatory framework. The broader thesis is that $ADI’s value depends less on narrative alone and more on whether these financial entry points can evolve into sustained on-chain settlement, asset issuance, and capital movement on the network.

BNY Mellon is preparing to launch digital asset custody in Abu Dhabi with Finstreet and ADI Foundation. The initial offering will cover Bitcoin and Ether, underscoring Abu Dhabi’s growing role as a hub for institutional crypto infrastructure.

BNY Mellon, the world's largest custodian bank, plans to offer digital asset custody in Abu Dhabi's ADGM, initially for Bitcoin and Ether via Finstreet. The move, backed by the ADI blockchain and local royal family, signals institutional crypto adoption and could reshape the Middle East market.