Russians Are Starting to Invest in Dubai Using Crypto

Russians are starting to invest in crypto platforms of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in an attempt to save their assets, requesting crypto firms to liquidate billions of dollars.

One exchange recently confirmed that they received too many requests from Swiss brokers in the past ten days, asking to liquidate Bitcoins worth billions of dollars as they are worried Switzerland’s authorities might freeze the funds. The firm said all of the requests were for $2 billion or more.

Digital assets are subject to the same sanctions as imposed on the traditional holdings of Russian users and individuals, so funds of sanctioned persons must be frozen in Switzerland, stated the country’s Secretariat of economic affairs (SECO) in an email.

Dubai Becomes Safe Heaven For Russians

Dubai, a business hub for Gulf countries and a growing crypto market, has refused to take sides between Moscow and the Western allies. This has opened a way for Russian to save their ventures there.

Also, a real estate broker partnered with a crypto firm to help people buy at their ease has said:

We’ve been seeing a lot of Russians and even Belarusians coming to Dubai and bringing whatever they can bring, even in crypto.

A financial source of UAE addressed that many people have been buying properties in Dubai, using cryptocurrency to get their money out of jurisdictions safely in the Gulf state.

Cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide are blocking Russian accounts that the West sanctions over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and Russia has named it “Special Operation.”

Similarly, the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, such as Binance and Coinabase, decided to comply with the sanction, saying they don’t want cryptocurrencies to become a reason to evade them.

Still, cryptocurrencies offer users a high degree of anonymity. That’s why European states like Estonia and Germany called for more tight supervision last week to detect other loopholes to prevent sanction evasion.