1. English teacher’s ten bitcoins
In 2011, when Chang Qia answered the question "How should a college student with 6,000 yuan invest?" on Zhihu, his suggestion was to buy Bitcoin, an electronic token worth $0.3 at the time. The former founder of Babbitt might not have thought that seven years later, the six-digit Bitcoin he cashed out would be enough to buy two apartments on the west side of Central Park in New York.
"Now think about the guy who used Bitcoin to buy pizza," said Li Xiaolai, a former New Oriental English teacher, while smoking an e-cigarette at a blockchain conference in Xiamen. "It's like using a Picasso painting as a placemat." The audience erupted in laughter that was somewhere between envy and jealousy.
This man, known as "China's richest Bitcoin man", now owns properties in Tokyo, Vancouver and Zug, Switzerland, but he insists that "Dubai is the place that best understands the tastes of the rich in the cryptocurrency world."
2. The head of Binance in Wandering Earth
CZ's passport is stamped with entry and exit stamps from all over the world, but the "digital nomad" career of the Binance founder has found the most important anchor in Dubai. In October 2021, he purchased a luxury house of over 1,000 square meters in downtown Dubai for US$13.5 million. This property soon became the golden intersection of the crypto world and the real economy.
"In Dubai, my cold wallet and hot tub are equally safe." The entrepreneur, who Forbes calls the "richest man in cryptocurrency," once joked. In fact, since founding Binance, CZ has traveled all over the world, but Dubai has become an indispensable "oasis" in his business territory with its unique charm - there is not only a 24-hour blockchain regulatory sandbox, but also the Palm Island skyline that makes every crypto upstart excited.
3. Dubai’s blockchain gold rush
In the summer of 2021, a magical scene appeared in a sales office on Dubai's Palm Island: Wang Ming, a 30-year-old Chinese guy, took out his mobile phone and showed the developer his Coinbase account - 2,000 Ethereums quietly lying in it. "It's as simple as scanning a code to pay in a supermarket," he later recalled on Twitter: "Except that I scanned a QR code, and they received $6 million worth of cryptocurrency."
This is not an isolated case. According to data from the Dubai Land Department, the volume of cryptocurrency house purchase transactions in 2022 soared 400% year-on-year, with Chinese contributing 70% of it. Real estate agencies on Palm Island now come with bilingual Chinese and English versions of the (Cryptocurrency Payment Guide), and some developers even accept Dogecoin - although Iron Man Musk may have just mentioned it jokingly.
"Last month, a young man in slippers came to see the house," Sarah, the sales director of a top luxury home in Dubai, told me: "He transferred 500 bitcoins on the spot as a deposit, which crashed our financial system - at that time, no one had seen such a large on-chain transaction."
4. New Totems for Digital Nomads
These new rich buy houses as casually as they buy NFTs. James, a former Huobi executive, spent 45 bitcoins (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars at the time) to buy a sea view apartment in Dubai Marina district after getting drunk in 2021, just because he liked the balcony that could see the world's tallest building. "After sobering up, I found that the orientation was wrong." He complained in the podcast: "I spent another 10 bitcoins to ask the agent to find the king unit in the next building."
They have created a house-buying ritual that’s like performance art: posting photos of the property certificate and wallet address on Twitter, using smart contracts to automatically pay mortgages (triggered when the ETH price exceeds a certain threshold), and engraving the GPS coordinates of the mansion on the blockchain as permanent proof of ownership. A Chinese miner even asked the developer to accept a unique installment plan - using his mine’s output for the next three months as collateral.
5. From the Wenzhou real estate speculation group to the blockchain real estate group
Unlike the Wenzhou real estate speculation group, this group of "blockchain real estate groups" has distinct characteristics of digital natives. Singaporean lawyer Allen observed: "They will open DeFi market and real estate drawings at the same time in the Zoom meeting, and suddenly exclaimed when discussing the size of the swimming pool: Damn UNI has fallen again!"
Their logic for buying houses is also full of characteristics of the cryptocurrency world:
Only buy homes with smart home systems (for easy remote rent collection);
Prioritize projects with divisible property rights (flexible disposal like splitting tokens);
Pay special attention to politically and economically stable regions (to guard against domestic regulatory storms).
Dubai became an unexpected winner. Through the "Golden Visa" program, Dubai attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency investment last year. A Shanghai quantitative trading team collectively purchased an entire building on Palm Island and converted it into a "Web3 co-living space". Each bedroom is named after a mainstream currency - roommates living in the "Bitcoin Suite" have to pay double the water and electricity bills.
6. The Dubai Lifestyle of Crypto Newcomers
In Dubai's most high-end social circles, there is a joke going around: To determine whether a person is a real "cryptocurrency tycoon," just look at whether he has a cooling device for a Bitcoin mining machine installed by his swimming pool. Although it's a joke, it reveals the unique lifestyle of this group.
Mr. Lin, a quantitative trading expert from Shanghai, owns three adjacent apartments in the Dubai Bay area. "I converted them into a three-bedroom mining farm," he explained with a smile, "The living room is for living, the bedroom is for mining machines, and the balcony is just right for a view of the Burj Khalifa light show - this is probably the era of Web3 facing the sea in spring."
Even better is the flexibility of Dubai developers. The sales director of a project in Palm Island revealed: "A customer wanted to use Dogecoin to pay the down payment. We immediately adjusted the system to complete the transaction. Now there is a special chapter in our sales manual explaining how to buy a house with various mainstream cryptocurrencies."
7. Trump’s Crypto Real Estate Revolution
While global investors are still worried about the rise and fall of Meme Coin, the Trump family has already started a "high-end game" in the Middle East. The US president's business empire has cooperated with London-listed real estate company Dar Global to invest $1 billion in the construction of Trump International Hotel and Tower in the core area of Dubai. The most eye-catching innovation of this project? Full acceptance of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for payment!
"This is the world's first large-scale real estate project that accepts cryptocurrency!" Eric Trump's declaration was powerful. The two penthouses in the project are priced at $20.4 million each, and ordinary apartments cost 4 million to 5 million dirhams. As netizens commented: "Others speculate on cryptocurrencies to get rich and buy houses, but Trump directly issues cryptocurrencies to sell houses. He is a real business genius!"
8. Dubai’s Golden Formula
It is no accident that the Trump family chose Dubai. This desert city perfectly illustrates the ultimate form of "being rich and willful":
In the first quarter of 2025, Dubai sold 111 luxury homes worth more than $10 million, with a total amount of $1.9 billion. The number of millionaires in the UAE has exceeded 130,000, ranking 14th in the world. Eric Trump's praise is even more incisive: "Dubai = Monaco + Las Vegas + New York, a tax haven, entertainment mecca and financial center!"
The advantages at the policy level are also impressive: 10-year golden visas, zero personal income tax, remote work visas designed for digital nomads... The Dubai government has transformed almost all of its welcome speeches into real monetary incentives. As a local real estate agent said: "Here, your Bitcoin can not only buy coffee, but also the land of the entire coffee shop."
9. Carnival and emptiness in the bubble
At the rooftop bar of the Armani Hotel in Dubai, I met a cryptocurrency influencer who goes by the pseudonym "Soha Ge". He had just used the proceeds from SHIB coins to purchase a Jumeirah Beach Villa. "Did you know that?" He shook the 23-year-old Macallan in his glass: "Our generation is destined to be landlords in both reality and the metaverse." The bartender whispered to me that the last time this guest paid a tip with a credit card, he habitually asked, "Is the gas fee enough?"
But there is hidden anxiety behind the carnival. On the night of the LUNA coin collapse in 2022, a partner of a Dubai crypto fund listed seven properties overnight. "He was crying in the group voice messages in the transaction." An insider revealed: "He said that if I didn't take action, I would be liquidated and become an Uber driver." Sure enough, three months later, someone saw this former "Ethereum whale" driving a Toyota Corolla to take orders in the financial district.
10. The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed
When I met Vitalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum) who was inspecting the project at the observation deck of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, he was surrounded by a group of Chinese investors asking him whether they should use ETH to buy buildings. This was an interesting phenomenon. The shy programmer scratched his head and said, "But are you sure you want to pin your decentralization ideal on reinforced concrete?"
Standing under the brand new cryptocurrency payment billboard by the Dubai Canal, watching the fleet of Lamborghinis coming and going, I suddenly understood the unique appeal of this city to blockchain tycoons. Not only is there the world's first cryptocurrency regulatory authority here, but there is also a complete ecosystem that can instantly transform digital wealth into real enjoyment.
As one mining farm owner who bought a Jumeirah Beach Villa with Bitcoin in 2021 said: "In Dubai, your virtual currency wallet and your mansion keychain can coexist harmoniously." While other places are still debating the legality of cryptocurrencies, Dubai has already given the answer with practical actions - here, the future is not coming, but has already happened.
For those digital pioneers who have achieved great success in the blockchain world, Dubai is not only a real estate destination, but also a real utopia that proves the true value of cryptocurrency. Here, their digital wealth can receive the greatest respect and the most flexible cashing methods. This is perhaps why more and more crypto upstarts choose to call Dubai "Home Sweet Home".
It rained heavily on the day we left Dubai. The cryptocurrency tycoons on Palm Island were forwarding the same joke in the group: "It turns out that there are blue-chip stocks and altcoins in the Middle East - rainwater is a truly scarce asset." Fifteen years have passed since the release of the Bitcoin white paper. This group of people who rewrite the rules of wealth with code must eventually find a sense of belonging in the physical world.
Top ten reasons to buy Dubai real estate now: seize the wealth express given by the times!
As a popular destination for global real estate investment, Dubai's real estate market provides investors with an extremely attractive choice with its unique policy advantages, economic vitality and international environment. The following analyzes the core advantages of buying Dubai real estate from multiple dimensions.
1. The best tax policy in the world
Dubai is known as a "zero tax haven" with almost no tax burden on real estate transactions and holdings:
No capital gains tax: No tax is paid on the increased value when the property is sold, and investors can keep 100% of the proceeds;
No property tax: No annual property tax is required during the holding period, reducing long-term holding costs;
No personal income tax: rental income or property appreciation gains are not subject to personal income tax;
Low transaction costs: Only 4% land registration fee and 2% agent fee are required, which is much lower than other international cities (such as London's stamp duty is as high as 12%).
2. High rental return and stable appreciation
Dubai property ranks among the best in the world for rental yields and capital appreciation potential:
Rental return rate: The rental return rate of downtown apartments is about 7%-10%, and that of non-downtown areas can reach 10%-12%, far exceeding cities such as London (3.5%) and New York (4%). For example, the monthly rent of a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Dubai is about 12,000 dirhams (about 23,000 RMB), and the annual rental return rate can reach 8%;
House price growth: Dubai house prices will rise by 18% year-on-year in 2023, and high-end residential price growth will rank among the top five in the world in 2024. Core areas such as downtown Dubai and Palm Island will see a 15% increase in house prices. It is expected that house prices will continue to rise moderately by 5%-10% in 2025.
Imbalance between supply and demand: Dubai’s population will increase to 3.92 million in 2025, with an increase of about 1,000 people per day, but the annual delivery of new homes will be only 61,000 units. The gap between supply and demand continues to drive up housing prices.
3. Friendly policies for foreigners buying houses
Dubai is highly open to international investors, with comprehensive policy guarantees:
Permanent property rights: Foreigners can own permanent property rights in designated areas (such as Downtown Dubai and Dubai Marina) and freely buy, sell, lease or inherit;
Fund security: Developers are required to set up a government-supervised guarantee account to ensure that homebuyers’ funds are used for project construction. If the project is cancelled, a full refund can be made;
Legal protection: pre-sale transactions must be notarized and registered and a temporary "Oqood" property ownership certificate must be issued. If the difference in the delivered area exceeds 5%, the developer must compensate at the original price;
No common area: Dubai real estate is priced based on the actual usable area, excluding the common area, making every penny worth it;
Fully furnished: Most new homes in Dubai are fully furnished, and some properties come with furniture, kitchenware and even home appliances, eliminating the need for tedious decoration and extra costs.
Interest-free payment plan: Dubai developers offer interest-free payment plans where buyers only need to pay a certain percentage of down payment and the balance can be paid in installments, alleviating financial pressure and increasing the return on investment.
4. Visa and residence convenience
Buying a house can directly or indirectly obtain long-term residence rights:
Golden Visa: Investing in real estate worth more than 2 million dirhams (about 3.8 million RMB) can apply for a 10-year golden visa, and spouse, children and parents can accompany you;
Retirement visa: Investors aged 55 and above who purchase a property worth Dh2 million can apply for a 5-year retirement visa with no residency requirement;
Work visa: Through real estate investment or starting a business (such as a free trade zone company), you can obtain a work visa and enjoy local medical and education benefits.
5. Economic diversification and leading infrastructure
Dubai's economy is highly resilient to risks and its infrastructure is world-class:
The non-oil economy accounts for more than 90%: finance, tourism, trade and other industries contribute to the main GDP. In 2023, the non-oil GDP will increase by 6.7%, reducing dependence on oil;
World-class infrastructure: Dubai has the world’s busiest airport (over 90 million passengers per year), a metro network, free zones (such as JAFZ) and smart city projects (such as Dubai South), which increase property values;
Driven by large-scale events: International events such as the World Expo and the Dubai World Cup attract a large number of tourists and investments, driving the prosperity of the short-term rental market.
6. Exchange rate and asset allocation advantages
The dirham is pegged to the US dollar, with a stable exchange rate, suitable for global asset allocation:
Exchange rate hedging: The dirham to US dollar exchange rate is fixed at 3.67:1 for a long time, avoiding the risk of exchange rate fluctuations, especially suitable for investors holding US dollar assets;
RMB appreciation potential: If the RMB depreciates, Dubai real estate denominated in RMB will appreciate simultaneously. For example, if the RMB depreciates by 1% against the dirham in 2024, a 5 million dirham property will appreciate by about 100,000 RMB.
No foreign exchange control: Dubai has no foreign exchange control, there is no restriction on capital flow, and investors can flexibly allocate funds;
No purchase restrictions and no sales restrictions: Dubai's real estate market has no restrictions on quantity and no restrictions on resale time, providing full freedom and flexibility for investors to seize opportunities for global asset allocation.
7. Green Building and Sustainable Development
Dubai promotes green buildings to increase long-term property value:
Environmental protection policy: New buildings must comply with green building standards (such as LEED certification), use solar energy and water-saving technologies, etc., to reduce energy costs;
Future trends: By 2050, all buildings in Dubai will achieve net zero carbon emissions, and the rental premium for green buildings can reach 10%-15%.
8. Regional investment potential and developer reputation
The choice of different regions and developers affects the return on investment:
Core areas: High-end areas such as Downtown Dubai, Palm Island, and Dubai Marina have seen the highest growth in rents and house prices, making them suitable for short-term investment and high-end leasing;
Emerging areas: Dubai South, Dubai Silicon Valley and other planned new areas have long-term appreciation potential due to policy support and infrastructure investment;
Reliable developers: Choose reputable developers such as Emaar and Damac to ensure timely delivery and quality of the project.
9. Self-occupancy and living facilities advantages
Dubai provides high-quality education, medical care and living environment:
International education: Top schools around the world such as GEMS Wellington College and JSS Private School have branches, and the tuition fees are only 1/3 of those of domestic international schools;
Medical resources: Dubai has many internationally certified hospitals (such as the Dubai branch of the Cleveland Clinic in the United States), and its medical level is world-leading;
Convenience: Plenty of sunshine all year round, duty-free shopping, and a variety of multicultural festivals (such as the Dubai Shopping Festival), making it a family-friendly city.
10. The East-West Hub and the Social Circle of the Rich
The world's first city to set up a cryptocurrency regulatory agency. Buying luxury homes with Bitcoin and USDT is no longer a dream. Trump Tower accepts digital currency payments. Here, your virtual assets and physical properties are perfectly integrated, truly realizing "on-chain wealth, off-chain enjoyment";
The world's tallest building, the largest shopping mall, the most luxurious hotel... Dubai takes "the world's best" as its standard. Here, waking up every day is like VIP treatment, and life is a never-ending top-level enjoyment.
With an 8-hour flight to major cities around the world and 4-hour access to the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, your Dubai luxury home is the strategic center of the global business landscape;
Be neighbors with CZ and be friends with Trump buyers. Dubai real estate is not just a place to live, but also a golden key to open the top circle. Here, opportunities are like oil in the desert, inexhaustible!
Summarize
The advantages of Dubai real estate can be summarized as "three highs and three lows": high returns, high appreciation, high convenience, low taxes, low risks, and low thresholds. For international investors, especially those seeking asset preservation, tax optimization, and long-term residence, Dubai is an ideal choice. At the same time, investors also need to pay attention to market fluctuations and regional differences, and choose the appropriate property type and developer based on their own needs.
🌟 If you don’t buy Dubai now, do you have to wait until the whole world wakes up and buys it? Opportunities are like Bitcoin, fleeting! Act now and let your wealth shine the brightest on the desert pearl! 🏙️💰
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