Qatar may have added Bitcoin to its reserves, Scaramucci said

Skybridge Capital oprichter Anthony Scaramucci tweeted recently that Qatar may have added Bitcoin (BTC) to its reserves, becoming the first country in the Middle East to do so. The Bitcoin price shot past $64,000 again on Sunday, March 3, amid strong buying activity on the crypto market.

The recent news about Qatar actively exploring Bitcoin investments first emerged in September 2023 when the Emir of Qatar, His Highness Tamim Bin Hamad, arrived in El Salvador to discuss Bitcoin adoption and other investment prospects. However, there is no official confirmation of the Bitcoin investments Qatar has made so far.

Bitcoin maximalist Max Keizer, who is also closely associated with El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele, has been pushing for this for some time. The news is gaining momentum as the Emir of Qatar’s private jet, the Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER, was spotted in Madeira during the Bitcoin Atlantis conference. This happened shortly after MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor gave a historic speech at the conference.

However, one question everyone is asking is what will happen to the price of Bitcoin once wealthy Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar start building up Bitcoins with their oil money. We could once again see huge amounts of money flowing into this asset class.

Institutions Rushing to Acquire BTC As we have seen, massive institutional money has flowed into the newly launched Bitcoin ETFs over the past two months. BlackRock Inc.’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity Investments’ Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) have collectively amassed 79% of the total inflows among the “Newborn Nine” funds. In response, four of the remaining seven funds have chosen to lower their fees below those of the two leading funds.

Valkyrie Investments has notably lowered its rate to 0.25% from the previous 0.49% after SEC approval, nearly halving its cost. Similarly, Franklin Templeton has reduced its management fee to a sector low of 0.19%, which represents a reduction of 10 basis points. It is notable that Bitwise is the only fund in the group that has not adjusted its fee structure.

As of February 28 last week, the IBIT Fund raised $612 million in new investments, which is the highest single daily amount since its inception. Furthermore, it has consistently attracted the majority of new fund flows over the past month. With the distribution network of the world’s largest asset manager, investors may be able to obtain better liquidity compared to many competitors.