The head of PwC leaves to open his own crypto fund

Henri Arslanian received preliminary approval for the firm from the Dubai regulator

04.08.2022 - 14:50

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2 min

What’s new? The head of consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Henri Arslanian, has left his post to create his own cryptocurrency fund, Nine Blocks Capital Management, in Dubai. Arslanian will retain his position as a senior advisor at PwC, but in an interview for the Financial Times, he noted that he has already moved to the emirate. The former PwC head also stressed that Dubai is an attractive location for such a business, while other global cryptocurrencies, including Singapore and Seoul, are only increasing their scrutiny of the sector.

Financial Times' material

What else did Arslanian say? The new fund has already received $75 million in funding from its main shareholder, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Nine Masts Capital. Arslanian's firm has also placed three portfolio managers in the Cayman Islands.

“Hong Kong would have been a natural home for us. However, when we looked at the broader ecosystem, Cayman and Dubai made a natural choice,” the former PwC head explained.

Arslanian added that Dubai's regulatory and licensing regime for digital assets made the city extremely attractive to institutional investors.

PwC is a global network of audit, advisory and tax firms. It serves 418 of the world's largest Fortune Global 500 companies by revenue. Headquartered in London, it employs 295 000 people worldwide. At the end of 2021, the company had revenues of $45,14 billion.

In July, the prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, unveiled a strategy for blockchain technology and metaverses. The plan is to create 40 000 virtual jobs and increase the number of cryptocurrency firms by 500% by 2027. During the presentation of the plan, the prince said that there were already more than 100 cryptocurrency companies in the emirate, which bring $500 million a year to the city.

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