By Dishang Patel, Head of Digital Assets at Rakbank
Making money online has never felt more mainstream. In 2026, an entire generation of entrepreneurs have built careers, businesses and wealth through digital assets such as trading crypto, holding tokenised commodities and moving capital across borders in ways that seemed futuristic a decade ago.
Yet for all this momentum, many entrepreneurs are facing the frustrating realisation that traditional banks cannot keep up. In the UK, recent research shows 40% of all transactions to crypto exchanges are blocked or delayed by UK banks, with 70% of crypto businesses describing the banking environment as increasingly hostile.
It is a challenge quietly reshaping where the most ambitious digital asset entrepreneurs choose to build. The question worth asking is where in the world this gap is being closed.
A generational shift
The digital assets sector has matured enormously in recent years, but unlike the UAE regulatory uncertainty in other parts of the world remains one of its biggest practical obstacles. In the US, the 2025 GENIUS Act (the country’s first federal framework for payment stablecoins) is being implemented, while the UK is still working through its Digital Assets Bill. These are positive steps, but they represent markets still catching up to an industry that has been moving quickly. Contrast that with the UAE, where proactive regulators have supported the digital asset ecosystem for years.
Indeed, just as equities were once considered complex and accessible only to a limited segment of investors before becoming a mainstream part of financial life, digital assets are undergoing a similar process of normalisation today. That transition is already underway across the Gulf and is advancing particularly quickly in emirates such as Ras Al Khaimah, which are actively fostering innovation and developing the ecosystem needed to support the next generation of financial services.
The UAE has taken a different approach to the US and UK. By establishing clear, structured frameworks for Virtual Asset Service Providers and building dedicated regulatory bodies, the country created something entrepreneurs value, the ability to plan with confidence. This distinction, highlighted by five consecutive years being ranked first in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, is increasingly attracting startups and SMEs who want to feel supported without being stifled.
This trend is being driven by entrepreneurs from Gen Z and the emerging Gen Alpha, the first generation to grow up entirely in a digital world. They do not necessarily see digital assets as alternatives to more established products. For them, they are an equally viable way of making business work.
It is therefore no surprise that the UAE has cemented its position as the leading global destination for millionaire migration. Achieving an impressive Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 85.3 in 2026, driven by tax competitiveness, safety, and long-term residency pathways, the UAE is seeing unprecedented demand. Henley & Partners recently recorded a 41% surge in enquiries and a 29% rise in applications for alternative residence from within the country, driven by expatriate entrepreneurs doubling down on the UAE as their permanent global base.
Built for entrepreneurs from day one
This generation is looking for three things in a financial home: a bank that treats digital assets as normal, robust support at all stages of growth, and somewhere they can build both a business and a life. Ras Al Khaimah is rare in offering all three.
At Rakbank, our offer begins with treating digital assets as a routine part of banking. Retail customers can access a regulated crypto brokerage, business customers can secure core banking services for their VASPs, and soon both segments will be able to make payments using an AED Stablecoin. The point is less about the features than the signal they send; when a long-established national bank with a top-tier credit rating offers this directly, founders take it as confirmation that digital assets are here and here to stay.
These benefits are by no means limited to the largest businesses. As the UAE’s largest SME lender, we have supported over 250,000 small businesses in the past 50 years, designing our model around how modern founders actually operate. We offer fully digital and non-resident account opening, tailored packages for freelancers, and support that scales alongside growth. International entrepreneurs can open an account before they arrive.
However, a supportive bank is only part of the decision to relocate. What seals it for many is that Ras Al Khaimah is also an excellent place to live. Ranked the world’s best destination for expats to get started abroad by InterNations and it is home to more than 150 nationalities, living in some of the safest communities on earth. Less than an hour from Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah is also blessed with easy access to mountains, beaches and deserts. For a young founder deciding where to put down roots, this combination is hard to match.
The bigger picture
The world’s most established cities have stopped feeling like places where genuinely new things happen. What’s happening in Ras Al Khaimah is the opposite. It will survive short-term external shocks because of a long-term effort to build an ecosystem where digital finance can operate at scale within a well-governed, transparent framework.
Entrepreneurs relocating here are choosing to be part of a financial environment that acts on the fact that digital assets are a serious, structural part of modern banking.
What’s more, in choosing Ras Al Khaimah, they show their appetite for support from seasoned experts and a great quality of life outside work.
The infrastructure is here, the impetus is here, and the community of like-minded builders is growing.