According to the World Crypto Rankings 2025 report released by Bybit and DL Research, the UAE ranks as the most cryptocurrency-adopting nation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the fifth most cryptocurrency-adopting country worldwide.
The report indicates the emergence of the UAE as a regional powerhouse in terms of asset tokenization and settlement systems, making it a conduit between Asia, Europe, and Africa with regard to digital finance.
Dubai, specifically, has become a policy-first global tokenization hub, providing transparent anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, legal frameworks of digital asset providers, and an attractive talent and enterprise environment.
However, the UAE ranks second in the world after Singapore, the US, Lithuania, and Switzerland in terms of adoption. The strategies used by the country are progressive policy frameworks with high grassroots usage, such as remittance-based needs, and some of the highest rates of crypto user penetration in the world.
The increased interest of the Saudi Arabian population in cryptocurrencies is also evidenced by the intensification of the digital asset infrastructure and the expansion of the licensing regimes in the country.
Therefore, other North African nations like Morocco demonstrate strong grassroots adoption even in a stricter regulatory environment.
The report characterizes MENA as a “hybrid region,” where institutional leadership is concentrated in hubs, such as the UAE, and innovation-related adoption in economically ailing countries, where crypto is a workaround solution to inflation, capital controls, and poor access to banking services.
Although some of the regions have poor regulatory and infrastructural backing, there is increasing demand for younger populations, implying that they can be quickly developed should the right policy frameworks be put in place.
MENA Regional Manager at Bybit, Michelle Daura, said that “Bybit is honoured to contribute to Dubai’s remarkable rise as the UAE pioneers the future of crypto innovation and regulation. As one of the first exchanges headquartered here, the first to secure the Virtual Asset Platform Operator License from the SCA, and an advisor to partners at DMCC, Bybit is committed to the region’s growth as a global crypto hub.”
The report indicates that adoption flourishes in areas all over the world where infrastructure, regulatory clarity, and institutional involvement match.
All the top five countries have a different model: Singapore balances digital literacy with licensing clarity, the US anchors liquidity with ETFs and institutional flows, Lithuania uses EU gateways with MiCA, Switzerland balances legal clarity with cultural embedding, and the UAE balances ambitious policy with usage driven by the grassroots.
