Henri Arslanian, the crypto head of Big Four accounting firm PwC has reportedly left his role at the company and moved to Dubai in hopes of setting up a $75M digital asset fund in the Middle East country.
According to Financial Times, Arslanians’s new fund – Nine Block Capital Management, has been granted provisional regulatory approval in Dubai. Hong Kong-based hedge fund Nine Masts Capital is said to have backed Arslanian with the $75 million.
While Arslanian will remain at PwC as a senior, he stated that he chose Dubai to establish the digital asset fund due to the country’s ease of travel and supportive regulatory environment for crypto firms.
He further stated that he considered Hong Kong and Singapore, but settled for Dubai due to the mandatory quarantine for most international travellers in Hong Kong.
In recent months, crypto companies have secured operation licences in Abu Dhabi. Some of these companies include Binance, FTX and OKX.
