Crypto trading activity across the Middle East and North Africa is skyrocketing amid the ongoing regional conflict.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) says in a new report that investors in the Middle East are shifting capital into digital assets to protect wealth during disruptions rather than fleeing the region, which has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency areas.
Annual on-chain transactions have climbed from approximately $100 billion in 2022 to an estimated $350 billion by 2025–2026, despite the fact that regional conflicts tend to accelerate capital outflows, according to the report.
Says BPI,
“The Iran conflict displayed a different dynamic: instead of exiting the region, a growing share of capital shifted into digital assets, underscoring the increasing role of cryptocurrencies – and Bitcoin in particular – as a hedge against economic and geopolitical uncertainty.”
During the initial stages of the Israel–Iran conflict in June 2025, cryptocurrency markets reacted much like other global risk assets.
Bitcoin dominance rose to 64.8 percent as traders rotated out of riskier altcoins.
The Gulf’s regulated digital asset ecosystem continued operating without major disruption.
“When Iranian missiles were landing in the UAE earlier this year, the stock exchanges were closed down, but the crypto exchanges continued operating as normal.”
Turkey leads overall volume at nearly $200 billion annually while the UAE processed about $150 billion in 2025.
Saudi Arabia posted the fastest growth at 154 percent year-on-year and Qatar followed at 120 percent.
In Egypt alone, peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading volumes increased by more than 300 percent following successive devaluations of the Egyptian pound.
These trends highlight how conflict is accelerating Middle East and North Africa’s digital asset maturity with regulated Gulf centers attracting institutional flows.
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