Bitcoin first, crypto at scale: Inside the UAE’s layered digital asset strategy

The United Arab Emirates is not trying to take betwixt Bitcoin and broader crypto. Instead, it is deliberately gathering some successful antithetic cities and for antithetic stages of adoption.

Abu Dhabi, the superior of the UAE, has positioned itself arsenic a hub for Bitcoin (BTC)-focused organization infrastructure, emphasizing custody, over-the-counter (OTC) liquidity, mining and regulated superior markets. Dubai, by contrast, has built a broader crypto system that spans payments, stablecoins, Web3 apps, gaming, tokenization and consumer-facing products. 

While this shows a distinction, manufacture participants noted that it reflects a layered strategy and not fragmentation. “The 2 approaches are complementary,” said Gregg Davis, shaper of Bitcoin MENA, the largest Bitcoin-focused lawsuit successful the UAE.

“A wide digital-asset ecosystem people directs attraction toward the astir unafraid and time-tested plus — Bitcoin. Together, they make a divers and dynamic marketplace crossed the UAE,” Davis told Cointelegraph.

On the different hand, Dubai’s ecosystem maximizes information and real-world usage, according to Matthias Mende, the co-founder of the Dubai Blockchain Center and the laminitis of the Web3 societal verification level Bonuz. 

“In elemental terms, Abu Dhabi is gathering ‘crypto Wall Street,’ portion Dubai is gathering the spot wherever radical really usage this exertion each day,” Mende said.

Michael Saylor astatine the Bitcoin MENA event. Source: Cointelegraph

Abu Dhabi’s Bitcoin-first organization thesis

Davis argued that Abu Dhabi’s strategy is rooted successful a wide favoritism betwixt Bitcoin and the broader crypto landscape. 

“Abu Dhabi has done the enactment to recognize that Bitcoin stands isolated from the broader digital-asset landscape,” Davis said. “Much of what falls nether ‘Web3’ remains speculative oregon built astir problems that whitethorn not request solving.”

According to Davis, the intent to presumption Abu Dhabi arsenic a halfway for organization Bitcoin is already visible.

“Major entities successful Abu Dhabi gaining vulnerability to Bitcoin is simply a beardown awesome of semipermanent conviction,” helium told Cointelegraph. He added that clearer regulatory pathways and public-sector enactment person made the emirate charismatic for Bitcoin-native firms.

Recent developments backmost up this organization Bitcoin thesis. Abu Dhabi has emerged arsenic a focal constituent for large-scale, regulated Bitcoin activity, underscored by the motorboat of the Bitcoin MENA 2025 event, which brought organization investors, miners and infrastructure providers successful the emirate to sermon custody, mining and treasury strategies. 

Global companies, specified arsenic Galaxy Digital, person expanded into Abu Dhabi nether the ADGM framework, citing regulatory clarity and organization demand. Meanwhile, crypto speech Binance secured afloat regulatory approvals covering trading, clearing and custody.

Dubai builds the crypto system layer

While Abu Dhabi focuses connected organization rails, Dubai has taken a broader approach, designing a regulatory situation intended to enactment full industries built connected apical of integer assets. 

“Dubai is trying to physique the afloat crypto system astir that,” Mende told Cointelegraph. “Consumer apps, brands, payments, gaming, creators and tokenization.”

He told Cointelegraph that the convergence of stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and consumer-facing apps created a caller economical furniture that goes beyond trading. 

“Stablecoins volition beryllium the disposable portion — elemental ‘scan, tap, pay’ flows — portion RWAs bring superior organization superior onchain,” Mende said, adding that blockchain-based integer IDs, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), vouchers and tickets marque the full strategy human-centric and “useful for regular life.” 

Dubai’s regulatory clarity has been a large enabler of the crypto system vision. “The biggest enabler is clarity,” Mende said. “Founders cognize which activities are regulated, what licence they request and which rulebook they autumn under, truthful they tin plan products and token models with a wide path.”

That clarity, however, does not destruct each friction. Mende told Cointelegraph that challenges stay astatine the interface with accepted finance, peculiarly banking and fiat on- and off-ramps, and successful much experimental areas specified arsenic decentralized concern and DAOs, wherever frameworks are inactive evolving.

Related: State Street, Galaxy and Ondo articulation tokenized currency contention with 24/7 expanse fund

Stablecoins look arsenic the archetypal mass-use rail

As Dubai’s crypto system develops, aggregate manufacture leaders constituent to payments and stablecoins arsenic the archetypal country of durable, real-world adoption.

“Payments and stablecoin infrastructure volition pb due to the fact that they lick a cosmopolitan and urgent problem: cross-border colony that is slow, costly and fragmented,” Patrick Ngan, the main concern serviceman astatine Zeta Network Group, told Cointelegraph. 

According to Ngan, regulatory clarity provides fiscal institutions with the assurance to integrate integer colony rails straight into commerce. “Once those rails are successful place, measurement follows,” helium said. “That is wherever the archetypal durable, real-world adoption volition appear.”

SingularityDAO laminitis Marcello Mari echoed the sentiment. He said that stablecoins are already much embedded successful mundane enactment than galore extracurricular the portion realize.

“In Dubai, USDT and USDC are really utilized much than you deliberation — for rent, remittances, existent property and work payments,” Mari said. “Gaming and Web3 creators volition follow, but stablecoins are the archetypal span to real-world utility.”

Apart from crypto-native companies, stablecoins person caught the attraction of mainstream companies successful the UAE. On Thursday, state-owned telecom elephantine e& announced that it’s preparing to test a dirham-backed stablecoin for measure payments. 

However, some Ngan and Mari expressed that portion regulatory clarity exists, operational timelines and banking relationships stay the biggest bottlenecks. “The rules are clear, but the process requires patience and beardown operational discipline,” Ngan said.

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