The post UAE’s Ultra-Rich Are Driving a Fierce Crypto Revolution com. The traditional wealth management and private banking world, much of which is hard-bitten and twice shy when it comes to cryptocurrency investing, is under mounting pressure again to deliver digital assets to wealthy clients, particularly in crypto hotspots like Dubai, Switzerland and Singapore. Swiss software firm Avaloq, which serves many private banks and wealth managers, examined high net worth (HNW) investing attitudes in the UAE (based on surveys of 3, 851 investors and 456 wealth professionals conducted in February/March 2025), and found that while demand for digital assets in that region is unusually high (39% of wealthy clients hold crypto), only 20% of those crypto investors used a traditional wealth manager. The UAE, known for its oil-rich, ultra-high net-worth family offices and a low tax center for expat workers, is also quickly becoming one of the world’s hottest crypto hubs, with Dubai offering a clear regulatory framework in the form of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), which has been in place since 2022. These days, the kids of ultra-high net-worth families are educating their elders about crypto for example, the Trumps. Against this backdrop, Avaloq’s UAE snapshot found that 63% of investors have switched managers or are considering doing so. The reason is partly because their questions about crypto are going unanswered, according to the survey. “As crypto has evolved as an asset class, there has been a growing need among private banking relationship managers to cater to clients who are basically not being served,” said Akash Anand, head of Middle East and Africa at Avaloq, in an interview with CoinDesk. “Hence there has been a rush among traditional wealth managers to get equipped to offer crypto.” The roadblocks So why weren’t these traditional financial institutions serving what their clients want? The simple answer is that crypto, by its.