Crypto executives search for financial redemption in Persian Gulf

The word went out among those gathered for the crypto conference: The Big Money guys were here.

- Angus Berwick

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (right) during Binance Blockchain Week In Dubai earlier this month.

(REUTERS)

Representatives from a $330 billion United Arab Emirates sovereign-wealth fund were said to be circulating—if only they could be found.

Many of crypto’s biggest players trooped to Abu Dhabi last week, hoping to secure deals with deep-pocketed Emirati investors who could inject fresh vigor into the industry following two months in the doldrums.

Crypto executives careened around the U.A.E. capital, dashing between a half-dozen different conferences, a “Whale Only” night at a secluded beach club, and champagne-soaked parties aboard superyachts. They traded intel about exclusive dinners with star guests, and sought out supposed gatekeepers to the royal family.

At the Bitcoin MENA conference was Michael Saylor, founder of the largest bitcoin-buying firm Strategy, whose share price has more than halved since midyear . He said he had been touring the Gulf to pitch “hundreds of investors’—including sovereign-wealth funds—on his plan to accumulate ever more of the digital currency through myriad financial instruments.

He displayed a presentation, which he said he had shown to potential investors, that portrayed Strategy as a space rocket fueled by bitcoin, headed toward a “$20 Trillion Idea.”

The president of Meta-planet, a Japanese hotel-operator-turned-bitcoin-hoarder whose shares likewise have collapsed, said on stage it was looking to raise money via a new preferred-share plan called “MARS.”

Other prospectors included the Trump family’s go-to investment bank , Dominari Holdings, and the asset-manager arm of Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, which said it plans to make Abu Dhabi a regional hub as part of a push into crypto products.