The United Arab Emirates leads the Middle East in crypto adoption, with 72% of local users investing in Bitcoin
I am from the United Arab Emirates and the truth is that there is not much interest in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. In my small community, less than 1% of those I know have invested in Bitcoin, most of them after Elon Musk’s tweets.
Here there are no taxes and it is easy to establish a company, especially in the field of real estate and contracting. You can buy an apartment or start a small business and you will get a good return on investment, so there is no interest in Bitcoin.
Most investors buy between 1-3 bitcoins and leave them as a long-term investment, and few are interested in mining or trading.
Is always good to hear from residents of an area that is been discussed. I know the Middle East as an area that is not open to change. They are somehow difficult to easily adopt new inventions except it has been well observed for a long time. UAE has been a pathfinder in the adoption of new inventions in the Middle East. 1% of the UAE population having an interest in Bitcoin is à big boast to the Middle East because it could also have a positive ripple effect on other neighboring nations.
If you are living in one of these countries, and if you are involved in cryptocurrency trading or anything that involves cryptocurrencies, you will need to be vigilant if you are using a bank account to send and receive transactions that directly or indirectly involve cryptocurrencies because you can get in trouble for doing that.
Cryptocurrencies are totally banned in Bangladesh and I have seen news publications where people were arrested and even persecuted for dealing with the cryptos. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have more relaxed laws on cryptocurrencies because it is not banned but the government encourages citizens not to deal with them. I wonder why the Bangladeshi government will be so unfriendly to Bitcoin while the economy needs investors to create job opportunities.