Crypto Titans Court Abu Dhabi Wealth in Bid to Revive Markets
Abu Dhabi became the unlikely epicenter of crypto dealmaking last week as industry heavyweights descended on the UAE capital. The lure? Rumors of a $330 billion sovereign wealth fund’s representatives circulating during a major blockchain conference—though attendees found these elusive investors harder to pin down than expected.
Michael Saylor, the MicroStrategy founder turned Bitcoin evangelist, led the charge among executives scrambling for face time with Emirati royalty and institutional money. His presence at the Bitcoin MENA conference underscored the sector’s desperate need for fresh capital after a brutal market contraction.
The pilgrimage highlights crypto’s shifting power dynamics: once reliant on retail speculation, the industry now openly courts sovereign wealth and institutional allocations. Yet the difficulty in locating these deep-pocketed targets suggests the road to mainstream legitimacy remains fraught.
