Komainu settles two-way transfers for First Abu Dhabi Bank

Komainu has settled two-way transfers of a digital-asset portfolio for First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), and the financing language sits ahead of any booked trade. On November 3, 2026, the custodian said the transfers settled instantly, while FAB's notice calls that movement the operationalisation of a key component of its institutional digital-asset financing infrastructure and says the bank is working towards its first transactions. In securities repo, collateral is usable only after a custodian has shown the assets can move into custody and move back out, which is the test these pages now describe.

Komainu's notice says the firm, a regulated digital-asset services provider and custodian backed by Laser Digital and Blockstream, completed the two-way transfer with FAB through the institutional custody framework the two firms have established. The same account went out on the wire. The transfer operationalises Komainu's collaboration with FAB Global Markets, joining regulated custody and connectivity to infrastructure the bank already runs. The size of the portfolio and the assets in it are not disclosed.

What the two-way transfer proves

The completed act is a custody movement, and the pages keep it that narrow. Komainu says the transfers show that FAB can move digital assets both into the custody environment and back out, which it presents as validation of the infrastructure required for institutional digital-asset activity. Instant settlement is the timing on the custodian's notice and on the wire. No ticker, chain or notional is named, so the print cannot be filed as a Bitcoin (BTC) custody event, a stablecoin transfer or a tokenised-deposit movement.

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FAB's notice, datelined Abu Dhabi on the same day, says the capability lets portfolios move as collateral and names digital-asset-backed repurchase agreements as a financing use. The bank states that its digital-asset financing capabilities are already available to institutional clients, with the bank working towards its first transactions. The same sentences appear on the bank's wire. Komainu's tense is the earlier one: the framework has been designed to support future institutional financing, including lending backed by digital assets held in regulated custody.

Who is on the record

Paul Frost-Smith, group managing director of Komainu, said: "Banks need digital asset infrastructure that meets the same standards as the rest of their business." On the transfers themselves, he said: "Completing these transfers with FAB shows that regulated custody can be integrated into a bank's existing systems and run as part of its day-to-day operations. We are pleased to support FAB as it develops its institutional offering, including financing backed by assets held in segregated, regulated custody."

Komainu says it is headquartered in Jersey, with offices in London, Dubai and Singapore. Komainu (Jersey) Limited is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, and Komainu MEA FZE is regulated by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. Neither page names an exchange, a trading venue or a borrower for these transfers. Laser Digital and Blockstream are named as backers, and neither notice carries a separate statement from them on the November 3 movement.

FAB places the custody test inside a wider digital-assets programme. The bank cites live tokenised-deposit transactions completed with Citi through Swift Ledger, and the issuance of what it calls the first digitally native green bond in the Middle East and North Africa on Euroclear's D-FMI. Those items sit beside the Komainu transfer as earlier steps in the same programme. The Swift ledger work already on this desk is the netting of deposit tokens by HSBC and Standard Chartered. The Euroclear parallel is Standard Chartered's digitally native notes on D-FMI, a different issuer from the green bond FAB cites.

Buying the custodian is the other route sitting on this desk. Standard Chartered's definitive Zodia Custody deal is a purchase of a custody business, while FAB has left Komainu independent and run a two-way transfer through it. Coinbase's Abu Dhabi Global Market custody permission covers arranging and custody for that firm. Komainu's notice stays silent on an Abu Dhabi Global Market permission.

The print that would turn the financing language into a comparable trade is still an asset, a size and a counterparty. Until that print exists, the live fact is the instant two-way transfer, and the financing book is a capability the bank says is already available to institutional clients while it works towards a first transaction. Komainu's claim that banks have shifted from strategy to implementation fits this custody test, and a financing business earns the same description only when a transaction is published beside the transfer.

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