BTC Inc’s Gregg Davis: Bitcoin belongs in Abu Dhabi

When global money printing surged during the 2020 pandemic, Gregg Davis knew the system was taking on water. A former yacht captain turned Bitcoin advocate, he’s now helping the UAE embrace what he calls “the only credible asset worth saving in.”

“My grandma was the sort of lady who would not trust banks and would stuff her walls full of cash,” Davis, Director of MENA for BTC Inc, told Guardians of Bitcoin. “She would encourage people not to take mortgages. So I’m certainly from a family of people that have a sort of distrust in banking.”

That mindset, he realized later, shaped how he approached money. “I actually thought it was all my own doing,” he said. “I thought it was just me researching gold and the Federal Reserve and the way fiat currency works. But then I realized it was already in me.”

Questioning money – and finding Bitcoin

Davis’s journey began with curiosity –  and concern. “My journey started when I started to look at gold, and then understanding a little bit about how gold-backed currencies ended, and then getting into this debt-based system,” he said. “That just set me on this rabbit hole of alternatives.”

Then came the pandemic. “Before the start of the pandemic, it was very clear to me that Bitcoin was doing things a lot differently,” he said. “When we looked at the money printing in the pandemic – when the global monetary supply increased by 40% – that’s when I really started to take some of the properties of Bitcoin seriously.”

Bitcoin was his first purchase, and it stayed that way. “If I’m talking about something serious that I’m going to put my entire net worth in, or I’m going to encourage my family to put their cash into, I wouldn’t be doing that with anything else apart from Bitcoin,” he said. “Now you go down that rabbit hole, and the world just looks very different.”

Navigating a new course with BTC Inc

For a decade, Davis built a career in marinas and maritime operations across the Gulf. “I used to be a captain of smaller boats, and then crew on bigger boats,” he said. “When I moved to the region, I was looking after charter companies and marinas.”

But as crypto events began popping up in Dubai, he noticed a problem. “People were just going there and getting straight-up scammed,” he said. “That was their first exposure to digital assets. I was really passionate about trying to bring a Bitcoin-only event here.”

Working at ADNEC in Abu Dhabi gave him the idea – and the platform – to make that happen. “I got on Twitter and started messaging people,” he recalled. “Crazy turn of events – the event got signed, I left the company, and then I got approached by BTC Inc.”

The opportunity, he said, was a dream come true. “I’d been reading Bitcoin Magazine for years, following David [Bailey, BTC Inc CEO] for years,” Davis said. “I was super excited to get them down to see Abu Dhabi and for them to be really excited about doing a conference here. Opportunities like that don’t come around all the time.”

BTC Inc's Director of MENA, Gregg Davis, left life at sea to navigate Bitcoin’s new financial waters in the Gulf. Photo: Unsplash / Eugene Chystiakov

Why Abu Dhabi, not Dubai?

Though he lives in Dubai, Davis believes Abu Dhabi is the perfect home for the region’s flagship Bitcoin event. “Dubai can have the crypto events,” he said. “Abu Dhabi is the capital – it’s Bitcoin only.”

The city, he added, reflects the values Bitcoin represents. “There is nowhere on this planet that has everything that you really need when it comes to safety, when it comes to earning the money that you earn, and being around opportunity,” he said.

The choice is also strategic. “Abu Dhabi being the capital where the central bank is –  there are things happening there right now,” Davis said. “Using excess capacity on the power grid to mine Bitcoin, for example. I like the optics. It’s the capital.”

Building Bitcoin MENA

Now in its second year, the Bitcoin MENA conference aims to blend education, culture, and accessibility. “We engage protocol departments to make sure that every important family in this region receives an invitation box,” Davis said. “We want the real decision-makers in the building, meeting our exhibitors and speakers.”

Cultural authenticity is also central to the design. “Our whale night last year was at Emirates Palace,” he said. “We had shisha, henna, traditional dance – and people loved that we embraced local culture. The locals who came really loved that we had traditional entertainment as well.”

This year, the team has lowered barriers to entry even further. “We’ve slashed general admission to $21,” Davis said. “We really want to encourage people who are just curious about Bitcoin.

"Last year, some people came with absolutely no idea what Bitcoin was and suddenly they were hearing about grid stabilization and proof of work. This year, we’re trying to make sure we meet people where they are.”

Bitcoin MENA blends innovation and tradition, reflecting the UAE’s drive for sound money and education. Photo: Bitcoin MENA

Why the Gulf matters

For Davis, the UAE isn’t just another stop on BTC Inc’s global calendar – it’s a signal of where the next wave of adoption will come from. “They are forward thinking. They’re looking towards the future,” he said. “The signal is that this country has taken Bitcoin extremely seriously.”

He points to energy, infrastructure, and openness as key ingredients. “You’ve got oil, natural gas, solar parks, and nuclear power coming online,” he said. “It’s a great argument that Bitcoin and AI can coexist – and help make each other more viable.”

Beyond infrastructure, he believes the region’s mindset sets it apart. “When you live in a country where you can keep the money that you earn, where leadership really wants you to succeed and be prosperous, it changes everything,” he said. “I’m kind of an advert for this country, really. It’s treated me extremely well.”

Rethinking money and education

Even as he helps shape one of Bitcoin’s fastest-growing regional movements, Davis remains focused on the fundamentals: education and understanding. “It fascinates me that people work so many hours in their life for money, but no one has ever taken ten hours to understand how it works,” he said.

He believes the lack of financial literacy isn’t accidental. “Why would you teach Austrian economics in Cambridge?” he asked. “[The current education system] is completely maintaining the status quo of this debt-based Ponzi scheme.”

That’s part of what drives his mission with BTC Inc – to spread understanding of Bitcoin’s principles in new markets, languages, and communities. “We’re working to launch Bitcoin Magazine in Arabic,” he said. “We want to make sure that demographic is looked after.”

After more than a decade in the Gulf, Davis says his outlook on the future is tied to Bitcoin’s success. “Bitcoin is pretty much the only thing that gives me hope that somebody my age will be able to have some purchasing power in the future,” he said.