The UAE has strengthened its position among destinations attracting cryptocurrency investors, rising three places to second in the Henley Crypto Adoption Index 2026. Its move up from fifth comes with a maximum score of 10 out of 10 for tax friendliness.

Published on September 8, Henley & Partners’ Crypto Wealth Report 2026 examines the relationship between digital wealth and international mobility. It puts the worldwide cryptocurrency market at $2.6 trillion and estimates that 135,694 people hold at least $1 million in crypto assets.

For travel blog readers considering a longer stay overseas or an international move, the report offers a perspective on how destinations compete for investors and entrepreneurs.

Singapore remains ahead of the UAE, retaining the leading position for a fourth year. Hong Kong, the United States and Switzerland round out the top five. The next five places go to Malta, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Cyprus and The Bahamas.

The index assesses 36 jurisdictions offering residence or citizenship pathways. It uses more than 900 data points to examine areas including regulation, technology, infrastructure, taxation and public adoption. Its results therefore reflect a particular investment migration framework, rather than a ranking of every country in the world.

The UAE’s tax score is a prominent part of its appeal, but it requires context. The Federal Tax Authority excludes personal investment income from the business activities used to determine an individual’s corporate tax liability. However, individuals conducting business in the UAE can fall within corporate tax when their annual business turnover exceeds AED 1 million. A favourable index score should therefore not be read as a blanket exemption for every crypto activity or business.

Regulation is another part of the story. The report highlights Dubai’s creation of a dedicated virtual asset regulator in 2022, illustrating the emirate’s efforts to establish clearer oversight of the sector.

The UAE also leads Henley’s separate Wealth Mobility Competitiveness measure, scoring 85.3 out of 100. Singapore follows at 79.5, with New Zealand, the Cayman Islands and Cyprus completing that measure’s top five.

Beyond the destination rankings, the report provides a snapshot of substantial wealth held in digital assets. Its estimates include 92,272 Bitcoin millionaires, 290 people with cryptocurrency holdings of at least $100 million, and 23 crypto billionaires. Nine of those billionaires hold at least $1 billion in Bitcoin.

As of August 31, 2026, Bitcoin represented approximately $1.6 trillion of the total $2.6 trillion cryptocurrency market.

These figures come with an important methodological change. Henley’s revised model seeks to estimate individual investors, accounting for complications such as people controlling multiple blockchain addresses, institutional holdings, lost coins and exposure through exchange-traded funds. The report’s statistics page explicitly cautions that the new results are not directly comparable with earlier editions.

The estimates also carry uncertainty. Henley places the likely number of Bitcoin millionaires between 74,000 and 114,000, while its range for all crypto millionaires is 132,000 to 154,000. The figures should consequently be understood as modelled estimates rather than an exact count.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain enters the adoption index in 13th place. The report also highlights its introduction of a dedicated stablecoin regulatory framework in 2025.

For readers exploring the UAE as a potential base, the ranking provides useful background on its digital asset environment. It does not establish how widely tourists can pay with cryptocurrency or determine any individual’s residence or tax position—questions that need to be considered separately when planning a stay.