Qatar’s state wealth fund has no interest in investing in Bitcoin, but is still keen to explore the blockchain.
Cryptocurrencies have yet to gain the interest of the Qatar Wealth Fund despite their dominant popularity, said Chief Executive Mansoor Al Mahmoud.
The blockchain technology itself, however, has turned some heads.
“Our team in the technology space is exploring opportunities in the blockchain,” Al Mahmoud said in a second interview. Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday.
“This is the space we’re interested in, not the currency.”
The most widely used cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, witnessed a dramatic plunge last week after several platforms blocked withdrawals. The currency traded at around $ 21,000, down more than 3% in the past day, according to data from CoinMetrics.
After being dubbed the ‘currency of the future’, Bitcoin has seen a drop of more than 20% in the last week alone and more than 60% from its all-time high in November, which saw a high of around $ 69,000.
This year witnessed one of the worst declines in the cryptocurrency market after the collapse of the luna token and stablecoin algorithm called TerraUSD. The distribution has caused some global concern among investors who are spending thousands, if not millions, into the currency to make a profit.
Stablecoins are a subset of cryptocurrencies that are intended to be linked to real assets. Many appear to be tied exactly to the American dollar. Some cryptocurrencies, such as Tether and USD Coin, are backed by real assets like fiat money and government bonds.
However, some stablecoin algorithms do not have asset reserves, such as TerraUSD. However, the algorithm controls the $ 1 stake.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine war also took a toll on Bitcoin investment after Russia’s aggression in neighboring European countries.
In August 2021, Russia is the second -largest mining center after Kazakhstan, contributing about 11% of the total processing power needed to create new bitcoin, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance.
For that, and among a number of other reasons, Qatari funds are not looking to invest more into Russia, even though they still have some ownership in the country, Al-Mahmoud said.
The Gulf state wealth fund, however, is looking for partners to invest in Africa’s infrastructure, and is optimistic about Europe in the long-term, he added.
