This page is for a company asking who will bank a crypto business in the UAE, not for a resident wanting to buy Bitcoin. Zand Bank (8 of 16) is the Dubai answer: its own custody FAQ lists VASPs, exchanges, market makers, banks and corporates as clients, and it has one CBUAE licence and one VARA licence. AMINA Bank (15 of 16) serves Web3 startups, miners, exchanges, market makers and funds from its Abu Dhabi ADGM branch, with a zero-fee startup package, for professional clients and companies. Standard Chartered gets partial credit because its DIFC custody and spot trading are for institutions, and it banks fintech partners and custodies OKX's institutional clients, which is not the same as opening an operating account for a small Web3 firm. Wio, ruya, RAKBank and Liv all fail this test. Liv is a consumer product with no business accounts. ruya offers a UAE company account at AED 79 a month but says nothing about crypto firms. RAKBank lets a UAE entity trade through Bitpanda but does not describe banking for VASPs. Wio's Web3 acceptance comes from third-party onboarding guides rather than Wio itself, and those same guides say Wio Business turns away anything that looks like an exchange or custodian.
| Bank | Score | Type | Health | P2P | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMINA Bank | 15/16 | Crypto-native | Solid | none | Yes, but only for professional clients and companies. Individuals need CHF 500,000 in assets plus finance experience, or CHF 2 million. |
| Standard Chartered | 8/16 | Traditional | Watch | none | Yes for institutions, through spot trading, custody and stablecoins. Retail customers get little beyond the Mox app in Hong Kong. |
| Zand Bank | 8/16 | Business banking | Solid | none | Yes for licensed businesses and institutions, no for individuals. |
| RAKBank | 8/16 | Traditional | Solid | none | Yes. Crypto trading is built into the app, but it is a closed loop run by Bitpanda, and exchange transfer rules are not published. |
Click a column to sort. Health is our tag. P2P is community-reported and separate from the score.
Zand Bank. It names crypto exchanges, VASPs and market makers as clients on its own site, offers VARA-licensed institutional custody, and has a fiat link to CoinMENA. In Abu Dhabi, AMINA's ADGM branch banks exchanges, market makers and funds, though it works on professional client terms. Standard Chartered DIFC provides custody and deliverable Bitcoin and Ether trading to institutions, and it already holds custody for OKX's institutional clients. Wio Business, by contrast, turns away firms that look like exchanges.
AMINA is the one bank in this set that names startups, with a zero-fee startup package for Web3 companies, but it is a professional-client bank and the account would sit with its Abu Dhabi ADGM entity. Zand's published client list runs to VASPs, exchanges, market makers, banks and corporates, and its pricing is set case by case. Standard Chartered's DIFC desk is built for institutions. None of the retail apps, Wio, ruya, RAKBank or Liv, offers a Web3 business account.