A different "Middle East crypto ecosystem" in the eyes of Dubai locals.
Written by: Joe Zhou, Foresight News
This is my first time in Dubai, and it seems very different from what I have seen on media platforms.
In the two days after my arrival, my itinerary included: Dubai's financial center (DIFC), shopping mall (Dubai Mall), resort (The Palm), and I visited the offices of three leading exchanges in Dubai, getting a close-up experience of the work and life atmosphere of Web3 people in Dubai.
However, after walking around, I did not find a single BTC ATM, did not see any vendors with USDT payment codes, and did not come across even one roadside advertisement for a crypto company. This is quite different from what I have seen online regarding "Dubai Web3."
However, when I paused to try to live, I gradually felt how Web3 is integrating into the daily life of this global financial center city. A friend who was playing basketball with us in Dubai got sick with a cold; she opened a Dubai online shopping app to buy medicine and saw an advertisement for the crypto exchange OKX. Another friend living in Dubai told me that there are large advertisements for crypto companies like XRP on the streets or offline, but the overall number of offline advertisements in Dubai is quite restrained compared to many countries and regions, so they are not as ubiquitous as in some cities.
I know that it is difficult to fully understand how Dubai accepts cryptocurrency and integrates it into the city's daily life in just five days, so I invited a "local native" of Dubai, Sherif Sanad, who is also the Country Manager for the crypto exchange HashKey in the Middle East and North Africa, to accept our interview. We talked about the "Dubai crypto ecosystem" from the perspective of local people.
Joe: Where are you from?
Sherif: I am from Dubai, grew up in Dubai, and I am also Canadian with a Canadian passport. I have also worked in Hong Kong, the UK, Canada, and Cyprus.
Joe: What does a Country Manager mainly do? What is your usual work rhythm like?
Sherif: Comply with local laws and regulations, obtain and maintain relevant licenses and permits in Dubai, and provide the best service to users under the regulations of VARA (Dubai's crypto regulatory authority), including VCs, family offices, fund management companies, etc.
In fact, we start work every morning at 7 AM, researching with our team how to provide the best service to potential clients in the Middle East. I believe Dubai has been positioned as a "crypto oasis" for the entire Middle East.
Joe: How do ordinary people in Dubai generally use cryptocurrency in their daily lives?
Sherif: They use cryptocurrency to purchase real estate. The minimum housing price in Dubai is around four to five hundred thousand dollars, and they actually use stablecoins like USDT and USDC when making down payments and installment payments, which has become very normal and common. We have seen many such cases. Joe, you know, Dubai is a tax haven, no taxes, and visa-free, which attracts many people from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Russia.
Many investors come to invest in specific areas like real estate, luxury cars, and luxury goods, and they rely heavily on using stablecoins like USDT and USDC as payment methods. So we see a huge demand, especially from Hong Kong, Russia, and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries and regions.
Joe: How do your family, friends, and neighbors view Web3?
Sherif: My wife has been buying cryptocurrency; she works in a different field, and she is making money while I am losing money (laughs). I have three children; my eldest is almost 17, and I have two daughters, aged 13 and 11. I give each of them $3,000 to analyze and research on their own, and now they are considering the virtual assets they want to trade. I set a goal for them: whoever can make the most money will get more money added to their wallets.
Joe: What crypto products do your children use?
Sherif: He hasn’t told me; it’s his secret.
Joe: Do you generally use BTC ATMs in Dubai?
Sherif: Never, we don’t have BTC ATMs. I saw some promising ATM projects in Hungary and Budapest, which surprised me that people are actually using ATMs for currency exchange. Maybe in the near future, we will see BTC ATMs in Dubai.
Joe: The UAE has many countries; what are the differences in the crypto environment among these different countries?
Sherif: Currently, the UAE has seven emirates, three of which are at the forefront of exploration in the crypto industry: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Ras Al Khaimah. Many Asian crypto companies have come to these three emirates to obtain licenses, expand their business into the Middle East, and radiate their business to Europe through the Middle East.
Surprisingly, some of the largest countries adopting Bitcoin in the entire Middle East are Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the UAE, with the highest number of users in these countries and regions. The UAE quickly established a licensing system with the help of regulatory authorities, positioning itself as a cryptocurrency center. This move has attracted many crypto companies to obtain licenses and attract local users.
Joe: What do you think are the three most well-known crypto companies in Dubai?
Sherif: Binance is the top crypto company; they are very famous in the Middle East. OKX is the first company to obtain a license in Dubai; they have a large team in Dubai. Another one I think is Crypto.com; they were also one of the earliest exchanges to obtain a license in Dubai, and they have a large team here as well.
Joe: What challenges do you think they will face when developing their business in the Middle East?
Sherif: They think they can adopt the same business strategy they used before in the Middle East, but the culture in the Middle East is completely different, the understanding of customers is also completely different, and the way they treat customers is entirely different. This is very important for crypto companies looking to enter the Middle East; they must understand the culture of the Middle East, how to approach customers, how to host customers, etc., because it is completely different from markets in other regions like Southeast Asia.
Joe: As an ordinary person, what do you think is the biggest challenge of living in Dubai?
Sherif: It’s too hot, especially in the summer; it usually reaches over forty degrees. (laughs)
Joe: Anything else?
Sherif: You need to have a car because transportation here is very expensive, and renting a car is also costly. (Author's note: Taking a taxi costs almost 100 RMB as a starting price, and a trip of 10 kilometers generally costs over 200 RMB).
In addition, language is also a significant challenge. I previously established an organization called the "Arab-China Chamber of Commerce" to help Chinese and Arabs discuss business; I think this is a very promising endeavor. Many Chinese people come to Dubai without speaking English, which is a significant challenge. You can get by without knowing Arabic here, but you need to know English.
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