On this episode of #MySarwa story, we sit down with Anas Bhurtun – a crypto-enthusiast and content creator. He’s passionate about providing information about cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) through his podcast Crypto Sheikhs, which he co-hosts. He is also the co-Founder of an NFT-marketplace, Arts DAO, which aims to attract leading Middle Eastern NFT artists and art collectors.
Anas’s financial habits reflect the contemporary obsession with decentralised currencies and cyber-assets, like NFTs and crypto coins. Anas, a young man in his 20s, prefers “to take risks” in his investing strategy – 80% of his savings are in crypto. His other (more conventional) investments include gold, stocks, and a newly-purchased apartment in La Mer (a luxury residential district in Dubai). The property investment was a decision that was mostly encouraged by his family (who he deems as more traditional in their investment beliefs).
Anas grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, and learned the importance of investing from an early age.
“I kind of grew up hearing words like yield, words like return, assets, and liabilities,” said Anas, talking about his family. “In my house, money chat was not taboo at all.”
Anas says he “feels safe” having most of his investment portfolio in crypto stable coins, which are backed by real currency (a.k.a. “fiat” to crypto-heads) on a fixed rate — just like how the UAE Dirham is pegged to the US Dollar.
According to Anas, the interest he earns from holding savings in USDC is more than what he earns from holding it in a conventional bank.
“The word risk has a lot of difficult ideas around it,” says Anas, with regards to investing in cryptocurrencies. “Risk can often be managed. If you can manage a risk because you understand it, then it becomes a much safer investment.”
When Anas first got into crypto in 2018 (when the industry had just been on the rise), he wished he had a deeper understanding of the “science” of investment. He thinks that nowadays, all of us have the opportunity to learn about investment options with the numerous resources available online through YouTube and podcasts. “There probably has never been a better time in the history of mankind to learn and build on your education.”Plug in your headphones and watch the full interview on our YouTube page, or if you’re on-the-go you can listen to it on your favorite podcast streaming platform (such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Anghami).