Sovereign wealth funds are accumulating spot Bitcoin, indicating institutional attractiveness at current price levels, according to MidChains CEO Basil Al Askari. Despite a retail slowdown, institutional and corporate participation is rising, with funds seeing this as an entry point for long-term accumulation.
Jack Selby, managing director of Peter Thiel's family office Thiel Capital, warns that a potential pullback by Middle East sovereign wealth funds could drain hundreds of billions from AI investments. Middle East investors account for about 25% of global AI investments committed over the next five years. If the Iran war continues and UAE/Saudi divert funds to rebuilding, data centers and tech companies could face significant impact. Oracle, Nvidia and Cisco are building a 5-gigawatt OpenAI campus in the UAE, while Microsoft plans $15 billion in UAE investment by 2029. Selby compares the AI boom to the dot-com bubble, warning it could be orders of magnitude larger when it busts.
Tech investor Jack Selby warns that Middle East sovereign wealth funds could withdraw hundreds of billions from AI investments if the Iran war continues, diverting capital to rebuilding efforts. Middle East investors account for roughly a quarter of global AI investments committed over the next five years, with half dedicated to regional data centers and half to global projects. Selby compares the AI boom to the dot-com bubble, predicting the eventual bust could be 10-100x larger in wealth destruction.
