Missile strikes near Dubai triggered a wave of crypto executive evacuations in February. The UAE’s on-chain crypto value hit $56 billion in 2024-2025, up 33% year over year. Founders are splitting operations across Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore instead of leaving. “It was not subtle,” Dodge said. Wealthy expatriates paid tens of thousands of dollars for evacuation flights to the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Europe. Organizers postponed TOKEN2049, one of crypto’s largest conferences, within days of the strikes. That panic raised a question crypto investors have asked for years. Is Dubai’s rise as a global digital asset ... (full story)