Best Digital Innovation 2025: Emirates NBD
Emirates NBD pioneers retail crypto trading in the UAE - earning our Best Digital Innovation Award.
When Emirates NBD launched Liv X with integrated cryptocurrency trading in March 2025, it signalled a decisive shift in how major Gulf banks approach digital assets. This was not a tentative pilot or a back-office blockchain experiment - it was a consumer-facing product from one of the region's most established financial institutions.
The Liv X platform, developed in partnership with Canadian digital asset infrastructure firm Aquanow, allows retail customers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies directly within their banking app. Emirates NBD became the first major UAE bank to offer regulated crypto trading to everyday customers, moving well beyond the institutional-only offerings that had previously defined the market.
What makes this initiative particularly significant is the regulatory groundwork involved. The UAE Central Bank and Securities and Commodities Authority have been building a licensing framework for virtual assets, and Emirates NBD navigated this evolving landscape to deliver a compliant, accessible product. The bank integrated robust KYC and AML controls into the crypto trading flow, ensuring the same standards applied to traditional banking extend to digital assets.
We recognise that digital innovation is not simply about adopting new technology - it is about understanding when a market is ready and moving with conviction. Emirates NBD read the moment correctly. Demand for crypto exposure among UAE retail customers had been growing steadily, often pushing users toward unregulated offshore platforms. By bringing this capability inside a trusted banking environment, Emirates NBD addressed a genuine customer need while strengthening its position as the region's digital banking leader.
The Liv X launch also demonstrated the bank's ability to execute partnerships at pace. Working with Aquanow gave Emirates NBD access to deep liquidity pools and institutional-grade infrastructure without building from scratch - a pragmatic approach that accelerated time to market.
Visit Emirates NBD to learn more.
Assigned by Sebastien Parker, Senior Research Analyst, Global Banking Monitor, April 2025
