MENA on-chain volume has tripled to $350 billion since 2022. Turkey handles close to half the region’s total, while Saudi Arabia grows fastest at 154%. Gulf states run crypto as sovereign inf
Annual on-chain transaction volume across the Middle East and North Africa has reached $350 billion, according to data compiled by the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Chainalysis, more than three times the roughly $100 billion the region recorded in 2022. Saudi Arabia posted the sharpest jump, with crypto transactions up 154% year over year, while Turkey still moves more raw value than any other market in the region. The numbers describe a set of economies that have stopped experimenting with digital assets and started depending on them, for reasons that differ sharply from one country to the next.
Turkey leads MENA by volume; Saudi Arabia and Qatar grow fastest. Source: Bitcoin Policy Institute. Turkey commands close to $200 billion in yearly volume, more than half of everything the region processes. That position has little to do with speculation. The lira has lost value for years, and households treat crypto rails as a way to hold something steadier than their own currency. Saudi Arabia and Qatar sit at the other end of the story, growing 154% and 120% respectively off a much smaller base. The Middle East now counts more than 34.8 million active crypto users, and stablecoins already carry between 45% and 52% of all activity, pulling ahead of Bitcoin in several markets.
Total MENA on-chain volume $350B Up from ~$100B in 2022, a 3.5x jump in three years Saudi Arabia growth +154% year over year, fastest in the region Qatar growth +120% year over year Turkey volume ~$200B more than half the regional total Active users 34.8M+ across the Middle East Stablecoin share 45–52% of all activity, ahead of Bitcoin in several markets Institutional share, Saudi Arabia 93% from transfers above $10,000In the wealthy Gulf Cooperation Council states, crypto is not a retail hobby that regulators tolerate. Governments are wiring it into the machinery of public finance. Saudi Arabia’s activity runs through corporate mandates and tokenization projects tied to Vision 2030, even though the kingdom has not finalized formal retail trading rules. The UAE went further and rebuilt its federal rulebook outright. It dissolved the Securities and Commodities Authority, handed its powers to a new regulator with wider reach, and replaced the old patchwork of economic-zone rules with a single onshore standard.
That structure has started attracting institutions that normally keep their distance. Standard Chartered launched institutional spot trading for Bitcoin and Ether out of its Dubai International Financial Centre branch, becoming the first globally systemic bank to offer client-facing crypto spot trading in the region. Zand Bank secured central bank approval to issue a regulated, multichain stablecoin backed by the dirham, which turns the national currency into something programmable. Ras Al Khaimah opened RAK DAO, described as the first free zone built solely for digital-asset, Web3 and decentralized-AI firms. Across the Gulf, governments are piloting central bank digital currencies and cross-border payment bridges with BRICS partners rather than waiting for private markets to lead.
Outside the Gulf, the driver is defensive. Years of currency depreciation in Turkey and Egypt pushed ordinary people toward digital assets as a way to protect purchasing power, and most of them are not chasing volatile altcoins. They hold USDT and Bitcoin as practical savings. The Bitcoin Policy Institute notes that regional conflict has changed how capital leaves these economies. Instead of money fleeing the region entirely, a large share now moves straight into crypto, because in the institute’s phrasing, “you can’t bomb a blockchain and you can’t sanction a private key.”
Top-down Gulf states (GCC) Role of crypto Sovereign financial infrastructure Main actors Central banks, banks, corporates Preferred assets Tokenized real-world assets, CBDCs, AED stablecoin Regulatory posture Top-down licensing Reference point Standard Chartered spot trading in Dubai Bottom-up Turkey, Egypt & North Africa Role of crypto Defense against currency collapse Main actors Retail households Preferred assets USDT, Bitcoin Regulatory posture Adoption running ahead of rules Reference point Lira and pound holders shifting to stablecoinsThe composition of Saudi volume explains why the kingdom’s growth looks nothing like a retail boom. Transfers above $10,000 account for 93% of all transaction volume, which points at institutions rather than day-traders. Goldman Sachs and Rothschild are building tokenization pipelines inside the kingdom, moving bonds, trade-finance instruments and corporate real estate on-chain to speed up settlement. The Saudi Central Bank is linking domestic lenders to regional counterparties through blockchain-based settlement, and Al Rajhi Bank processed the country’s first live blockchain wire transfer from its Riyadh headquarters. Oil and gas, telecoms and logistics make up roughly 70% of the Saudi blockchain footprint, with some operators reporting reconciliation and cost savings of up to 40%. Retail memecoins and unregulated altcoins have no room in this model, and the authorities intend to keep it that way.
The split running through MENA is starting to produce two kinds of crypto economy that will not converge soon. The UAE is building consumer on-ramps, letting residents settle government fees, buy property and vehicles, and book travel with local airlines using stablecoins. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are doing close to the opposite, keeping retail speculation out while tokenizing their own balance sheets to raise productivity and transparency. Part of the Gulf’s momentum comes from money arriving from abroad: Bitcoin Policy Institute data ties a large slice of the UAE’s transaction base to wealthy migrants who moved in over the past year and brought hundreds of billions of dollars of private capital looking for regulatory protection. Research firms project the Saudi digital-asset market alone to pass $47.8 billion by 2034, a figure presented as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Where the next wave of licensing, custody and settlement infrastructure lands will depend on which of these two models a given jurisdiction decides to copy.
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