The UAE has spent years positioning itself as a crypto-friendly hub, but a digital assets advocate said there’s a policy gap undermining its pitch: Workers paid in cryptocurrency are not eligible for a digital nomad visa, a program that might otherwise attract them in droves. Cryptocurrency income, “even if that is in a US dollar-denominated stablecoin and like triple the minimum threshold, it’s not recognized as a salary,” Alex Scott, who leads community development for blockchain network Solana in the Middle East, told Semafor.

Such policies matter more now than they did a few months ago, as the Gulf’s pitch to attract expatriates has been undermined by the Iran war. The crypto community in the UAE is highly mobile, being overwhelmingly young, low on obligations, and able to work from anywhere. But Scott said he had been surprised by their resilience, with the majority in his tight community of around 90 blockchain and crypto entrepreneurs opting to stay despite the conflict.