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Advisory Network

Emmanuel Givanakis

Chief Executive Officer, FSRA, Abu Dhabi Global Market

UAERegulator

About

Emmanuel Givanakis is an Australian-qualified lawyer and financial regulator with more than 30 years of legal and regulatory experience. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from Queensland University of Technology and was admitted to the Bar in Queensland, New South Wales and the High Court of Australia in 1994. He previously held senior roles at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), where his work earned him the Australian Public Service Medal in 2003, and at the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

He joined Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in October 2014 to lead policy and legal work at its Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), helping to build ADGM's legislative and regulatory framework. He became Chief Executive Officer of the FSRA in April 2021, succeeding Richard Teng.

As CEO he has overseen the FSRA's stablecoin and digital asset rules. The FSRA introduced a framework for issuing fiat-referenced tokens in December 2024, banned privacy tokens and algorithmic stablecoins in June 2025, and finalised rules on accepting fiat-referenced tokens for use in ADGM, effective 1 January 2026. It finalised a framework for virtual asset staking in April 2026.

Policy engagement

Leads the ADGM regulator that finalised rules on accepting fiat-referenced tokens, effective January 2026, and set out further digital asset framework enhancements at Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025.

Source: ADGM announcement, Dec 2025

Key actions

  1. The FSRA finalised its regulatory framework for staking of virtual assets, including limits on which firms may stake client assets.

    Source

  2. Presented enhancements to the FSRA's digital asset framework at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, citing tokenisation, DeFi and AI-driven markets.

    Source

  3. The FSRA finalised rules on regulated activities involving fiat-referenced tokens, effective 1 January 2026.

    Source

  4. The FSRA implemented digital asset framework amendments, including a ban on privacy tokens and algorithmic stablecoins and a new product intervention power.

    Source

  5. The FSRA introduced a framework for issuing fiat-referenced tokens, which Givanakis called a significant milestone for ADGM.

    Source

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