Nigel Green, founder and chief executive of deVere Group, stated on Sunday that “cryptocurrencies are the present and future of money.”
His comments made in an op-ed for Khaleej Times, a Dubai based paper, are noteworthy because deVer Group describes itself as “one of the world’s leading independent financial advisory organisations, with more than $10bn under advice from over 80,000 clients in 100 countries.”
“We help our clients, who are primarily expatriates and international investors, reach and often exceed their financial goals,” they say.
In particular Green claims the United Arab Emirates (UAE) “is at the forefront of crypto adoption [and] has become a powerhouse.” He says:
“With crypto transactions worth over $210 million, the UAE is leaving the US and UK in its wake.”
There are no sources provided for these claims, but Green says the “Dubai International Financial Centre recently reached a key milestone registering over 100 fintech firms.”
The very upbeat editorial is the more interesting because of deVer’s focus on international investors and expats.
International transfers is one area where bitcoin and other cryptos excel due to their ease of transfer across borders.
Just how much actual international trade is being carried out in crypto is not too clear, but some $8 billion worth of bitcoin was moved just in the past 24 hours.
The above does not mean $8 billion was moved for actual economic activity, but even at 1% that translates to $80 million a day.
“The increase in crypto transaction numbers catapulted the UAE into the list of top countries making digital currency transactions in 2019,” says Green, further stating:
“As well as having the crucial advantage of being borderless – thereby making cryptocurrencies ideally suited to business, trade and people – they are also a perfect match to the ever-growing levels of digitalisation around the world.
What these latest figures show, and what we’re seeing more and more now in the UAE and globally, is the increasing acknowledgement that cryptocurrencies are the present and future of money.”
That’s especially the case for digital natives or millennials, who in hereditary Arabia are starting to take positions of actual power and influence.
They might not use something like bitcoin to pay for a coffee, but if they are at the receiving end of a payment for a shipping container or a portion of it, then they might like the irreversible security of bitcoin.
That’s especially the case if there’s no close relationship between supplier and buyer. For that certainty and security, it is said Chinese merchants provide a discount if it is paid in bitcoin.
That makes it present money, but as an alternative. More correctly we’d say Bitcoin is gold money, something that has that other quality in Islam of being the most Sharia compliant money in existence.
Copyrights Trustnodes.com
