Aquanow and the Future of Digital Finance: A Story of Infrastructure and Innovation

From a Canadian startup to a key player in the global financial evolution

Bridging Two Worlds

While many were retreating from crypto in 2018, three friends with deep roots in capital markets saw something others missed: the foundations of a new financial system taking shape. They founded Aquanow with a bold vision—to build the infrastructure connecting traditional markets with the digital asset frontier.

“Before Aquanow, I was trading equities, focused on the intersection of technology and markets,” says CEO Phil Sham. “We saw early that crypto wasn’t a fad—it was a new asset class where the best parts of finance could be reimagined.”

What sets Aquanow apart is the team’s ability to empathise with clients. “Coming from traditional finance gave us a unique perspective,” explains Sham. “We understood the stringent requirements financial institutions face—from regulatory compliance to risk management. But we were also immersed in blockchain’s innovative potential. This dual expertise allowed us to build bridges between these worlds in a way that pure crypto natives or traditional finance veterans couldn’t achieve alone.”

From Liquidity Provider to Global Infrastructure

Fast forward to 2025, and Aquanow has transformed into a leading financial infrastructure provider with over 120 employees, powering digital asset services for over 300 institutional clients across 50 countries and processing billions in monthly volume.

Today, the company’s comprehensive service offerings are comprised of four essential building blocks:

• Trade: Advanced trading infrastructure with deep liquidity pools and low-latency execution
• Pay: Solutions that allow businesses to accept and process digital asset payments
• Send: Secure and efficient cryptocurrency transfers across platforms and regions
• Hold: Institutional-grade custody services ensuring maximum security and compliance

This evolution has positioned Aquanow at the center of institutional crypto adoption—particularly in regions embracing digital asset innovation, like the Middle East.

A Foundation of Trust

“When a bank with millions of customers decides to offer crypto services, they’re essentially extending their trust to us,” explains Sham. “We take that responsibility incredibly seriously. Our systems are designed with multiple layers of redundancy, sophisticated security protocols, and rigorous testing methodologies familiar to any enterprise IT department.”

Aquanow’s technology stack features advanced encryption, real-time monitoring systems, and advanced anomaly detection capabilities. The company maintains 99.99% uptime across its core services, with automated failover mechanisms that detect and respond to potential disruptions before they impact end users.

“Compliance isn’t an afterthought for us—it’s built into our DNA,” Sham emphasizes. “From day one, we’ve designed our systems with regulatory requirements in mind, working closely with authorities across multiple jurisdictions to ensure our infrastructure meets or exceeds their standards.”

This proactive approach has been particularly valuable in the Middle East, where authorities are crafting thoughtful frameworks to govern digital assets. Aquanow maintains a dedicated compliance team that continuously monitors regulatory developments worldwide, embedding controls directly into its infrastructure—from robust KYC/AML procedures to real-time transaction monitoring.

The UAE: A Strategic Focus for Growth

Among Aquanow’s global expansion efforts, the United Arab Emirates and wider MENA region have emerged as a particular focus. The region’s progressive regulatory environment and growing interest in digital assets have created fertile ground for innovation.

“Around six years ago, we started expanding internationally, targeting markets with regulatory clarity and strong consumer demand. The UAE checked both boxes,” Sham notes. “I came here about four years ago to begin the licensing process, and since then, we’ve made significant progress.”

That progress culminated in February 2024 when Aquanow received a comprehensive Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA)—one of the most extensive awarded to a VASP in Dubai to date.

“Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has played a significant role,” Sham explains. “They’ve proactively created a responsible oversight framework that allows innovative crypto concepts to become a reality. That clarity and openness have made it easier for companies like ours to build here.”

Powering Emirates NBD’s Crypto Journey

Perhaps the clearest sign of Aquanow’s growing influence is its landmark partnership with Emirates NBD, one of the Middle East’s largest banking groups with approximately $271 billion in assets.

Announced in early 2025, the collaboration enables Emirates NBD’s digital bank, Liv, to offer cryptocurrency trading through its Liv X mobile app—bringing digital asset access to a broad retail audience via a trusted banking platform.

“This partnership enables millions of users to buy and sell crypto like they access other financial services,” says Sham. “With that infrastructure in place, we can start layering on more services—tokenization, payments, cross-border transfers—all the things that blockchain promises but requires a solid foundation to deliver.”

What makes this collaboration particularly significant is Emirates NBD’s century-long history of serving customers in the region. The bank has spent decades building trust with its client base—trust that it’s now extending to digital assets through Aquanow’s infrastructure.

“When we partner with institutions like Emirates NBD, we recognize that they’re entrusting us with relationships they’ve cultivated over generations,” explains Sham. “That’s a profound responsibility. Our infrastructure has to be absolutely bulletproof, because we’re not just supporting a new product—we’re supporting the bank’s reputation and the trust their customers place in them.”

Enabling Crypto Payments in the UAE

While trading is often the first step for institutions entering the digital asset space, Aquanow’s work increasingly focuses on other sources of utility. In February 2025, the company partnered with Hubpay—a leading UAE-based cross-border payments platform—to launch the country’s first fully regulated crypto payment gateway tailored for businesses and SMEs.

The solution enables merchants across industries to accept cryptocurrency alongside traditional fiat, while addressing a major barrier to adoption: volatility.

“Volatility has always been a core concern for businesses considering crypto,” says Sham. “The key is giving them flexibility. Most of our clients aren’t trying to speculate—they want to offer customers the option to pay in digital assets while managing their treasury in fiat.”

Aquanow’s infrastructure supports instant conversion, allowing merchants to settle in either crypto or fiat at the point of transaction. “For example, a real estate developer in Dubai might accept USDC for a property but settle in AED,” Sham explains. “Our job is to remove exchange rate risk and operational friction so businesses can focus on what they do best.”

The Collaboration Ethos

Aquanow operates on the belief that advancing financial services requires close collaboration with existing institutions. The goal is to expand their capabilities while maintaining the trust they’ve built over decades.

“We don’t see ourselves as disrupting traditional finance,” Sham explains. “We see ourselves as enhancing it—providing infrastructure that allows institutions to embrace new technology while staying true to their core values.”

This mindset shapes how Aquanow approaches partnerships. Instead of imposing a one-size-fits-all solution, the team collaborates with each partner to understand their unique needs, constraints, and goals.

“Every institution we work with has its own history, client base, and strategy,” says Sham. “Our role is to provide flexible infrastructure that adapts to their context—not the other way around.”

That same spirit carries through to regulatory engagement. Aquanow works closely with policymakers across jurisdictions, sharing insights to help shape clear, workable frameworks for digital assets, while accounting for regional nuance.

Expanding Access
As Aquanow expands in the Middle East, CEO Phil Sham sees the company’s role as foundational: enabling access, liquidity, and movement across the digital asset economy.

“At its core, crypto is about distribution,” he says. “People need the ability to on-ramp and off-ramp between fiat and crypto. Once that’s solved, everything else—from tokenized assets to borderless payments—becomes possible.”

This vision aligns with the UAE’s ambition to become a global hub for digital finance. Regulatory clarity and rising institutional interest have created a fertile environment—one Aquanow is helping to catalyze.

“Every time a traditional distributor enters the space, they bring thousands—sometimes millions—of users with them,” Sham notes. “That’s where the network effects start. If a fintech in the UAE enables crypto trading and one in the Philippines does the same, we can power remittances between them.”

With large expatriate populations relying on cross-border transfers, the impact is tangible. By reducing cost and complexity, Aquanow’s infrastructure aims to lower friction and expand access to financial services across the region.

The Invisible Infrastructure

As Aquanow continues to expand, the company is guided by a somewhat counterintuitive measure of success: invisibility. The most effective infrastructure, in Aquanow’s view, is infrastructure that users don’t even notice—technology that works so seamlessly that it fades into the background.

“Our ultimate goal is to make the underlying complexity of blockchain technology invisible to end users,” explains Sham. “When someone sends money to family overseas, they shouldn’t need to understand blockchain consensus mechanisms. They should just know that the money arrived instantly, at minimal cost, and with complete security.”

This philosophy shapes how Aquanow designs its solutions. The company focuses relentlessly on user experience, working with its institutional partners to create interfaces that feel familiar and intuitive, even as they leverage the revolutionary capabilities of blockchain technology.

“Traditional fintech wallets and crypto wallets are converging,” Sham observes. “In the future, people won’t need to know they’re using crypto to send money—they’ll just know it works. That’s the direction we’re heading in.”

A Foundation for the Future

Aquanow, once a startup navigating difficult market conditions, has proven its long-term commitment to reshaping financial infrastructure. Through the development of enterprise-grade technology, embedded compliance, and deep institutional collaboration, the company has positioned itself as a key enabler of financial innovation—particularly in markets like the UAE, where trust and transformation go hand in hand.

“The businesses that succeed will be those that move early, build the right partnerships, and stay agile as the regulatory and technological landscape evolves,” says Sham. “We’re proud to provide the infrastructure that makes that possible—secure, compliant systems that let institutions explore digital assets without compromising their core values.”

As the UAE cements its role as a global digital asset hub, Aquanow is helping to turn ambition into execution—bridging the gap between today’s financial system and tomorrow’s possibilities.