Can You Really Buy Real Estate in Dubai with Crypto? (Here’s How)

Can you really buy property in Dubai with cryptocurrency? Let's find out today on the Dubai Connect podcast. Hello, I'm your host GG Benitez, a certified international property specialist and a licensed realtor connecting global real estate investors with the very dynamic and interesting market in Dubai. And today I have on the podcast not only a crypto trader herself, but an attorney, a prominent figure in international tax and corporate structure, Nadia Alamei. And she's been on my previous podcast a few times, but we're going to be doing a series. Nadia, I look forward to it. Thank you for having me back again. Thank you for coming. Cryptocurrency has been such a buzz for such a long time, and I was so fascinated to see that you trade yourself. You are a huge fan and advocate for it. You're doing well, and what's interesting for me as a realtor is that you can buy property in Dubai using cryptocurrency. So may you please share the legalities and why crypto is such a huge thing right now around the world? What are the benefits, advantages, and the drawbacks? Okay, great topic, my expertise. So let's take a step back and look at why now. Obviously, you know, we've had a political change in the USA. This has actually been a positive and a negative thing at markets and the way they have reacted. But you know, we're not here to give financial advice. We're here to talk about buying property in the UAE with crypto. At the end of the day, crypto is a currency. And you know, whether we look at the pioneers like Bitcoin and Ethereum and whatnot, these are accepted currencies with many developers here in the UAE, so long as you have the right connect. Now they have you, which, and then I have you. Exactly, right. So in the UAE, as you know, I've always said we are pioneers. We like to do things electronically. And you know, to looking at the age of AI, looking at the age of crypto, and having both centralized and decentralized exchanges, the UAE government has actually been pioneering updates on the law, making things very clear. There's no more gray areas on what to do. You can actually buy property in the UAE directly from a developer in a day. So long as your wallet is active, you have the funds there, we'll be able to draft up the contracts, same day, money transferred, wallet to wallet, no need for any banking approvals or anything like that. Centralized, decentralized, whatever it may be. We can draw something up in one single day. The property, the developer is accepting the payment through a cryptocurrency and you're done. I mean, I find that to be fascinating. In fact, I believe I just read in the news that there's going to be a new crypto tower being built here. Correct. So, may you share for me someone that maybe is just starting to understand crypto? And I believe you have an economics background, as do I, from UCSD, but many years ago for me. So this was before cryptocurrency. What would be the advantage of somebody purchasing property in Dubai through cryptocurrency? Amazing question. So obviously, we can look at crypto as, let's talk about it as any other currency. The way that crypto increases its value, you know, it's like any other currency. A lot of economic factors, legal factors, where that currency is being accepted, where is it being used? The more people using it, the more individuals that are holding it, it's obviously going to increase the price. Now, on that increase, we want to, or we're looking at it from an investment perspective, but also a purchasing power. So today, I am developer XYZ sitting in Dubai. I have that tower with all of these units available. Rather than accepting a US dollar transfer, a wire that may take days, maybe get caught up in the banking system, or you have to come and transfer your US dollars into dirhams. You've lost some of your money there. By the time the payment comes through, with your crypto wallet, that money is transferred instantly. Instantly. Instantly. What about fees for transfer? Is there no fees? It's not about no fees. It's looking less than maybe wired. Oh, 100%. Okay. Because when, luckily I haven't had issues with clients that purchase, wiring bank to bank. However, it does take a few days. Now, the developers, especially the ones that I'm working with, top tier developers, as long as I show them, they know me. I have a relationship with them, and I show them a screenshot that the money has left the account for my US investor, it's fine and it works. But there have been some pushback or some complaints about the fees that are incurred by banks doing that wire transfer. So I did wonder if crypto, how cryptocurrency is beneficial. Yeah. So we avoid the whole Swift system and complete. But there's also another benefit. Crypto, like any other stock or any other currency that is traded throughout the day, you can actually increase your buying power because you still hold the same amount of tokens, but that token value can increase by day. We can also do things, you know, obviously without correct financial advice, and this is advice given to each individual. You can also leverage your trading and grow your wealth, grow your buying power by still holding the same amount of tokens. Having that upside, you can pay your developer off much faster. So you're, we have great relationships with certain developers who are happy to receive, you know, USDT, Ethereum, the other major coins. Some have other preferences on coins. You know, we're not going to discriminate there. But your transaction can be instant. Contracts can be drawn up right away. Now, especially when buying off-plan, and we have milestone payments, and obviously, like any other currency or any other stock that is traded with the right informed projections, we can look at leveraging and doing things over time. So if you're holding, you know, 10 bitcoins for an hour or whatever, the value of those, hopefully, will be increasing over time. And doing that through leverage and whatnot, you going to be owning your property much faster. Developer is going to be receiving their payments much faster. It's a great opportunity. It's a win-win. It's a win-win situation. And for me, what I really love is that it's legal, you know, it's okay and it's welcome and it's accepted. And that just shows, as you said, how the UAE and Dubai is always innovative, thinking of the future, ahead of times, in so many ways. Truly the city of the future and the country of the future. And you have drawn and now gotten the attention of many of my investors in the US who are absolutely successful using crypto. And now can take that money or that currency, correct, and have even more purchasing power? 100%. Have the ease of purchasing, strategizing on that off-plan payments as you suggested, to pay off sooner and quicker. The developers benefit from that. So I thank you for coming on and being a resource to help share this great information with our investors. So my pleasure. And you know, if there's any questions about how to even start, where to start, or anything like that, feel free to leave a comment. Or we'll be monitoring the comments and obviously, I will be connecting my investors to you. And I think we have many, many, many more episodes on the Dubai Connect where we need to come together and continue to share. It's such a dynamic market, Nadia, right? And it's not just Dubai. While Dubai seems to be, you know, the one that is drawing us in, Abu Dhabi, to be another topic we talk about because we know Abu Dhabi, we know money's there, we know that there huge development like no other. Correct. And I absolutely want to delve into that with you as well. But because it's so dynamic, that's why I'm constantly doing these episodes is just to stay on top of what's happening and to be able to educate and guide and help build and manage portfolios here in Dubai and the UAE. As you said, not just Dubai, but Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, right? And other emirates as it continues to grow. So, and I look forward to being a source of information. And it's my pleasure. Thank you, Nadia. So with that, please make sure to like, subscribe, and follow, and stay tuned for the next episode of the Dubai Connect podcast. Happy investing.