Survey: Arab Institutional Players from UAE Plan to Increase Crypto Investments

The largely oil-dependent countries are now seeing a big opportunity in the widely emerging crypto space! The latest report shows that wealth managers and institutional players from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are willing to increase their exposure to cryptocurrencies in the next two years by 2023.

A survey by London-based Nickel Digital Asset Management showed that top institutional players want to dramatically increase their exposure to digital assets. Anatoly Crachilov, chief executive and founding partner of Nickel Digital, said:

“Despite the recent correction in the crypto market, our survey confirms there is an ever-increasing appetite for this asset class among professional investors, willing to take [a] constructive longer-term view.

We are glad to see increasing adoption of digital assets by many family offices based in [the] UAE, as well as across the Middle East.”

In the recent market correction, institutional players have double down on crypto investments. Players like Ark Investments and Rothschild Investments have been gaining exposure to Bitcoin by investing heavily in regulated instruments like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

So far in 2021, there have been a total of $5.7bn inflow of institutional money in crypto assets. Of course, a massive 73 percent of the same goes to Bitcoin.

The Growing Demand for Crypto In UAE

The government of the UAE has yet to come up with official regulations for trading or using cryptocurrencies. But this hasn’t stopped investors from joining the market. Besides, a number of exchanges have secured legal licenses to operate within the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

In its recent survey by Nickel, a majority of the UAE-based cited the long-term capital appreciation as the reason behind investing in crypto. Besides, the investors noted that cryptos provide a larger liquidity pool and the improving regulatory environment is a good development.

However, the investors agreed that the lack of regulatory clarity was holding them to make bigger investments in this asset class.