The Middle East and North Africa has quietly become one of the fastest-moving corners of the global crypto economy, and the numbers back that up. Annual on-chain transaction volume across the region climbed to roughly $350 billion by 2025–2026, according to the Bitcoin Policy Institute, up from about $100 billion just three years earlier. That trajectory places MENA crypto growth among the sharpest of any region tracked by major blockchain analytics firms, and it’s happening even as governments in the area take wildly different approaches to regulating digital assets.
Key takeaways
- MENA crypto transaction volume rose from about $100 billion in 2022 to roughly $350 billion by 2025–2026, per the Bitcoin Policy Institute.
- Saudi Arabia posted the region’s fastest growth at 154% year-over-year, ahead of Qatar’s 120% increase.
- Turkey remains MENA’s largest crypto market by value, processing nearly $200 billion annually through mid-2025.
- The UAE handled more than $56 billion in crypto volume in 2024–2025, a 33% jump, with USDT and USDC making up around 30% of activity.
- Saudi Arabia still bans cryptocurrencies outright even as it builds institutional digital-asset infrastructure, including participation in the BIS-backed mBridge project.
MENA Crypto Transaction Volume Surges Towards $350 Billion
The headline figure tells a simple story: crypto activity in the Middle East and North Africa has more than tripled in under four years. That growth isn’t evenly distributed, though, and the gap between the fastest-growing markets and the biggest ones by dollar value reveals two very different stories playing out at once.
Regional Growth from 2022 to 2025–2026
Back in 2022, MENA’s on-chain transaction volume sat at roughly $100 billion. By 2025–2026, that figure had climbed to approximately $350 billion, according to the Bitcoin Policy Institute’s analysis. For context, Chainalysis previously measured $338.7 billion across the region between July 2023 and June 2024, a figure that broadly lines up with the Bitcoin Policy Institute’s forward-looking estimate and lends it some credibility despite differing methodologies. Chainalysis has since reported regional volume climbing above $500 billion for the year ending June 2025, while a January 2026 report from Fuze, a Middle East-focused digital asset infrastructure firm, projected the region could surpass $500 billion annually going forward. The Bitcoin Policy Institute itself expects overall growth to moderate to around 33% year-over-year from here, a sign that the explosive early-stage expansion may be settling into a steadier pace.
Country-Specific Transaction Values
Turkey remains the single largest market in MENA by transaction value, processing nearly $200 billion annually through mid-2025. Persistent lira depreciation and stubborn inflation have pushed residents toward dollar-denominated stablecoins as a practical hedge, a dynamic also playing out in Egypt, where local currency instability has nudged everyday users toward crypto rails. The UAE handled more than $56 billion in crypto volume during 2024–2025, an increase of 33% from the prior period, driven largely by institutional transfers. It’s worth noting that according to calculations by the Bitcoin Policy Institute employing an alternative approach, the UAE market was valued at roughly $150 billion, underscoring how differently analytics firms slice the same market.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Lead Regional Crypto Growth Amid Regulatory Divergence
Saudi Arabia is growing faster than any other market in MENA, but its relationship with crypto is far more complicated than the growth rate suggests. The kingdom bans cryptocurrencies outright, even as institutional money floods into digital-asset infrastructure through the back door.
Saudi Arabia’s Institutional-Led Market and Digital-Asset Strategy
Saudi Arabia recorded 154% year-over-year growth in crypto transaction volume, the fastest expansion in the region. What makes that number striking is who’s driving it: an estimated 93% of the kingdom’s transaction volume comes from transfers exceeding $10,000, meaning this is an institutional story, not a retail one. That’s an important distinction for anyone trying to understand Saudi Arabia crypto regulation. The IMF confirmed in its 2026 consultation that cryptocurrencies remain formally prohibited in the country. Rather than opening the market to retail trading, authorities are building a digital-asset strategy centered on financial stability, monetary sovereignty, consumer protection, and market integrity — a framework designed to control the technology’s benefits without legitimizing open crypto commerce.
Qatar’s Formal Digital Assets Framework
Qatar posted the second-highest growth rate in the region at 120% year-over-year. Unlike Saudi Arabia’s prohibition-plus-infrastructure approach, Qatar has taken a more conventional regulatory path. The Qatar Financial Centre introduced a formal Digital Assets Framework in 2024 that covers tokenization, custody, exchanges, transfers, and smart contracts — giving businesses a clearer rulebook to operate within, rather than leaving them to navigate a legal gray zone.
Regional Regulatory and Infrastructure Initiatives Shape Crypto Landscape
Why does any of this matter beyond the raw numbers? Because the regulatory choices being made right now in Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi will determine whether Middle East digital assets activity stays institutional and tightly controlled, or eventually opens up to broader retail participation. The infrastructure being built today is a signal of where each government wants this market to go.
Saudi Arabia’s mBridge Participation and UAE Stablecoin Activity
Saudi Arabia joined the BIS-backed mBridge project in 2024, a multilateral initiative testing wholesale central bank digital currencies for cross-border payments between commercial banks. That move fits the kingdom’s broader pattern: engage with digital-asset infrastructure at the institutional and central-bank level while keeping retail crypto trading off-limits. Meanwhile, in the UAE, stablecoins have become the dominant product of choice. USDT and USDC together account for around 30% of UAE digital asset activity, reflecting how dollar-pegged tokens have become the practical bridge between traditional finance and crypto rails for institutions operating in the Gulf. Regionally, stablecoins now make up an estimated 45% to 52% of all crypto activity across MENA, outpacing Bitcoin’s share of regional volume — a detail that says as much about currency instability in countries like Turkey and Egypt as it does about crypto adoption itself.
Geopolitical Influences on Crypto Markets
Geopolitical shocks have repeatedly rippled through regional crypto prices. During the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict, Bitcoin fell about 2.3% to $105,200 while Ether declined 7.5%, before Bitcoin stabilized between $104,000 and $106,000. Notably, Bitcoin’s market dominance rose to 64.8% during that same window, suggesting investors rotated toward the more established asset amid heightened uncertainty rather than exiting crypto altogether. This matters for anyone tracking MENA crypto transaction volume going forward: regional conflict doesn’t just move prices, it reshapes which assets investors trust when tensions spike.
Taken together, the picture that emerges is a region expanding through several distinct channels at once. Saudi Arabia leads on percentage growth but keeps retail trading banned. Turkey dominates raw transaction value largely because of currency weakness rather than deliberate crypto policy. And Gulf regulators, from Dubai’s VARA framework to Abu Dhabi’s ADGM and Qatar’s new Digital Assets Framework, are betting that clear rules — not prohibition — will attract the institutional capital that’s already driving most of the region’s growth.
FAQ
Which MENA country leads in cryptocurrency transaction growth?
Saudi Arabia leads with a 154% year-over-year growth in crypto transaction volume.
What is the estimated crypto transaction volume in the MENA region by 2025–2026?
The MENA region’s crypto transaction volume is projected to reach about $350 billion by 2025–2026.
How does Saudi Arabia regulate cryptocurrencies despite high growth?
Saudi Arabia prohibits cryptocurrencies but is developing digital-asset strategies focused on financial stability and sovereignty.
What role do stablecoins play in the UAE’s crypto market?
USDT and USDC stablecoins make up around 30% of UAE digital asset activity, reflecting the significant role of dollar-linked stablecoins.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
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