The web is complicated. Sometimes somebody makes something up and after a few minutes, nobody can tell whether it is the truth or just a nice story. There is a meme passing through the crypto community on social media and it basically implies that the Saudis are going to invest big money into Bitcoin. Other monarchies from the Middle East could follow and before you can say “magic internet money” BTC could reach a price target of 160.000 US-Dollars.

This sounds wild and the price target – as all other price targets – certainly is. What is the story behind the latest rumours on the streets?

Prince Phillip of Serbia started this

While most of our readers came across the memes, there is a truth behind the story. Prince Philip Karadjordjevic of Serbia mentioned in a Bitcoin podcast that monarchies in the Middle East could be interested in Bitcoin since it resembles sound money that is also compatible with religious beliefs and the rules of Islam.

It is true that Islam does not condone paying or demanding interest. On the contrary, it forbids ribā which means all business practices that involve demanding or offering interest rates of any kind. This is why some banks and fintech have specialized in Islamic banking. This means that those banks won’t invest in stocks or other assets that are considered to be immoral like alcohol or tobacco. This includes also not asking or offering any interest rates.

It seems that the prince believes that Bitcoin is aligning well with the moral implications of following strictly the rules of Islam. That being said, it remains unclear if this is actually the case. Money and debt are not a problem for these societies. Interest rates on the other hand are but they are not necessarily connected to money.

Despite the controversy, if Bitcoin is especially suitable, it is well known that many countries in the Middle East are highly interested in crypto. Dubai has been a hotspot for crypto so far and is committed to becoming a part of the metaverse.

MAXBIDDING – The Saudi NFTs are coming

It seems that the NFT collection “The Saudis” has been inspired by those rumors even though they are not based on solid facts but on opinions. The NFT collection will start minting on July 9th which is coincidentally this year’s date of Eid al-Adha, one of the highest festivities in Islam.

The collection is resembling 5555 sheiks that will be randomly generated and it is noteworthy that the mint is free. Meaning that participants only have to pay transaction costs on Ethereum. Recently, the community of the NFT project has flooded Twitter poking fun and memes that the Saudis will use all of their oil money to buy Bitcoin and other crypto-assets.

While we cannot say with certainty that the Middle East will invest heavily in Bitcoin, we can tell that “The Saudis” will become a topic that will keep social media busy. Under the hashtag, “MAXBIDDING” users are getting wild to catch the attention of the team behind the project. The reason is simple, there is a limited amount of whitelist spots available. Users who are able to catch one of these spots will be able to mint 1 or more NFTs before the public offering starts.