Rohan Misra of AMINA Bank Discusses GCC Growth, Crypto Acceptance, and Tokenization on FF Virtual Arena

In a recent episode of the FF Virtual Arena, FF News founder Ali Paterson spoke to Rohan Misra, Head of GCC at AMINA Bank, about the progression of digital assets, tokenization, and crypto banking in the UAE and the broader GCC. Misra, who is also the head of AMINA Bank’s Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) branch, explained how the UAE has become a global leader in crypto acceptance, with an estimated 15 million crypto app downloads in a population of 10 million and ownership of crypto set to exceed 30% in 2025.

A major theme of Misra’s interview was Abu Dhabi’s more institutional approach and Dubai’s more innovative and applied approaches with tokenized real estate in moving the dynamic digital assets ecosystem forward. Misra identified stablecoins and fund tokenization as having the most scalable near-term opportunities, but insisted that true transformation would only be achieved if illiquid assets like private equity and real estate were tokenized on the blockchain.

When it came to talking about banking APIs, Misra took time to explain how AMINA Bank’s crypto-as-a-service proposition would provide secure, scalable infrastructure to traditional financial institutions. Misra concluded by asserting that legacy banks will need to embrace digital asset technology and modernize their ways of thinking by aligning with blockchain and Web3.