"Daily life hasn't dramatically changed," Fernández said of the United Arab Emirates, which has emerged as a crypto hub in recent years, with the government investing in and promoting the industry.
Laia Fernández has been working as normal as a crypto marketing executive from her high-rise apartment in Dubai's gleaming downtown business district, even as occasional sounds of projectile interceptions act as reminders of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
While the conflict has thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos across the Middle East, the blockchain industry's virtual-first structure and culture appear to have kept it resilient as the war enters its third week.
"Daily life hasn't dramatically changed," Fernández said of the United Arab Emirates, which has emerged as a crypto hub in recent years, with the government investing in and promoting the industry.
Fernández said her clients, like other crypto companies based in the UAE, operate globally with cloud-based infrastructure and trading on virtual marketplaces, meaning little disruption even with many of their employees working from home or temporarily traveling abroad.
Despite multiple attacks on Dubai, including on its airport on Monday, which have dented the emirate's status as a regional safe haven for tourism and business, the flow of crypto, it turns out, has so far been easier to maintain than oil or gas.
Alex Scott, a crypto executive who promotes the Solana blockchain in Dubai, is optimistic for the longer term in part because the conflict has accelerated conversations about financial infrastructure resilience.
"The fundamentals that made the UAE attractive for crypto and blockchain haven't changed," Scott told Reuters.
Bitcoin has edged higher since the US and Israeli strikes began on February 28, hitting $73,949 on Tuesday, but is still down around 15% for the year.
Thomas Puech, CEO of crypto trading firm INDIGO, said there were no signs of flows linked to an exodus from the UAE.
The UAE's embrace of crypto includes dirham-backed stablecoins approved by the central bank, blockchain trading services provided by some local lenders and on-chain payments accepted or announced for real estate projects, including a Trump Tower under construction in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi-backed investor MGX last year purchased a $2 billion stake in Binance, while another government-linked entity spent $500 million for partial ownership of World Liberty Financial, a crypto company co-founded by US President Donald Trump, his sons and other business partners.