Gulf heirs move $6 trillion trade finance onto blockchain rails

Two 28-year-old twins from one of the Gulf's oldest business families are moving part of their dynasty's money into Bitcoin. They are also building a firm to help other wealthy families do the same.

Abdulaziz and Abdulla Kanoo are fifth-generation heirs to the Kanoo Group, a Bahraini conglomerate founded in 1890. The group has survived world wars, oil booms, financial crises, and the transformation of the Gulf from a pearl-diving economy to a petrochemical powerhouse. The brothers have been steering the family's financial strategy toward digital assets since 2020, when they convinced the family office to make its first Bitcoin investment. The trade paid off. The family booked profits on a partial exit, according to reports. The exact size of the position was not disclosed.

The brothers are co-founders of ARP Digital, a company that manages digital asset portfolios for family offices and external clients. ARP Digital connects traditional Gulf wealth management with crypto-native tools. The firm focuses on investors who want exposure to digital assets but lack the infrastructure or expertise to do it themselves. The target market is large. Gulf family offices collectively manage enormous pools of capital. An estimated $1 trillion in wealth is set to transfer to younger generations over the coming years. Those heirs are more likely to consider crypto than their parents were.