28 September 2023
A report from blockchain data analytics platform Chainalysis has revealed that the majority of crypto transactions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from July 2022 to June 2023 have been whale transactions, crossing over $1 million each.
Majority Of UAE Crypto Transactions Exceeds $1 million
The report from Chainalysis reveals that institutional investments accounted for the majority of cryptocurrency transactions in the UAE with over 67% from July 2022 to June 2023.
The Institutional investments in the country range from $1 million, followed by professional investments ranging from $10,000 to $1 million, and retail investments which accounted for just 4.63% of cryptocurrency transactions in the country up to $10,000.
Kim Grauer, the Director of Research at Chainalysis shed more light on this significant trend noting that the report marks a significant interest among organizations and high-net-worth individuals in the UAE to add cryptocurrency to their investment portfolios.
“The fact that by far the larger portion of crypto investments in the UAE is for institutional and professional-sized transactions, indicates an eagerness from organizations and high-net-worth individuals to add cryptocurrency to their investment portfolios. This market confidence is validation of the efforts being made by the country’s leadership to offer commendable regulatory clarity, and establish the nation as a global crypto hub,” the director said.
The report shows that UAE was one of the only countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region to spot a higher share of crypto activity within the decentralized exchanges than centralized exchanges. The country’s decentralized exchanges activity was over 48% with centralized exchanges accounting for 46%.
So far, the country’s crypto market value dropped by 17% over the past year accounting for over $34 billion in crypto market value this year. However, the country still managed to outperform other countries in the MENA region.
The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector has also seen tremendous popularity in the country since 2022. This further proves that the country has been successful in passing innovation-friendly regulatory frameworks that allow the development of innovative cryptocurrency platforms in the country, with a direction that keeps consumers safe.
The country also displayed its interest in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) over time. The report revealed that the country had an impressive number of over 4 million web traffic visits across NFT sites from July 2022 to June 2023, despite the fast declination of NFTs since 2022.
Chainalysis Cryptocurrency Adoption Ranking
On September 12, 2023, Chainalysis released an excerpt based on a variety of parameters to determine the grassroots crypto adoption. The excerpt revealed that most of the countries leading the charge are from the Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) region.
According to the excerpt, six countries from the CSAO region are among the top 10 leading countries. These include India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Thailand.
The lower middle-income (LMI) countries were identified to be leading the way in grassroots crypto adoption around the world since last year.
The excerpt was released following the data analysis of 154 countries across five sub-indexes around the world. The rankings were then determined by each country’s geometric mean in all five areas, crypto purchasing power, and population strength.