$243 Billion UAE Sovereign Fund to Invest in Crypto Market

Mubadala Investment Capital, the Abu-Dhabi state-owned sovereign wealth fund with assets over $243 billion could expand its crypto investments. Mubadala CEO Khaldoon al-Mubarak recently appeared on CNBC to discuss various things including cryptocurrencies.  Khaldoon made it clear that he believes in cryptocurrencies and their technology and would definitely separate himself from the skeptics.

Mubadala’s CEO tells CNBC he’s not a crypto skeptic pic.twitter.com/rfT5nLjqur

— CNBC Middle East (@CNBCMiddleEast) December 13, 2021

Khaldoon went on to point towards the rapid growth of the crypto market over the past two years and how it has grown from a few billion to a $3 trillion market in just a couple of years’ time. He explained,

“I think its (crypto) is real, this is a business that had $200 billion worth of value two years ago, and is $2.5 trillion value today and growing. So while many people are skeptics, I do not fall in that category,”

He added,

“From our perspective, I think we look at the ecosystem around crypto. And I think we are investing in that ecosystem. That could be that’s in the block-chain technology, energy usage, etc.”

The wealth fund is among the richest in the world with connections to crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed who also owns a majority stake in Premier League football club Manchester City. The wealth fund made its first crypto investment back in 2019 by investing in the first regulated cryptocurrency exchange in the UAE, MidChains.

UAE Working Fast Towards Crypto Regulations

The state of crypto regulations has grown exponentially in the UAE as evident from the growing interest of some of the riches businesses in crypto. The country has created special investment zones to help the nascent technology of crypto and blockchain flourish.

Mubadala CEO said, even though the crypto regulations would take some more time before finalization and become a law. He said the regulations would have to evolve and expect the crypto market to be regulated as an asset class.