Karl Naim
Group Chief Commercial Officer & SEO Middle East, XBTO
Naim runs commercial strategy for XBTO and is its named senior executive for the Abu Dhabi entity licensed by ADGM in May 2025, and argues that institutional crypto demand is moving from passive Bitcoin exposure toward actively managed, regulated strategies.
Why the room needs them.
Karl Naim is group chief commercial officer at XBTO and senior executive officer of its Abu Dhabi entity. He moderated an XBTO roundtable and spoke on an institutional-yield panel at Proof of Talk Paris 2026.
The full account.
Karl Naim is group chief commercial officer at XBTO, an institutional digital-asset firm founded in New York in 2015 and headquartered in Bermuda since 2018, and is listed by the firm as Senior Executive Officer for its Middle East business, XBTO Middle East Limited. He joined XBTO in April 2024 as general manager for the Middle East, appointed to open an Abu Dhabi office as the firm was selected to join the Hub71+ Digital Assets ecosystem. XBTO Middle East Limited appears on the Abu Dhabi Global Market public register with a Financial Services Permission effective 14 May 2025, covering providing custody, dealing in investments as matched principal, advising on investments and arranging deals in investments, in virtual assets and other instruments, and the firm is not permitted to deal with retail clients. XBTO described that approval as a full 3A licence, and billed Naim at the time as chief commercial officer and general manager for the UAE. In December 2025 he spoke on the Abu Dhabi Finance Week panel “Mapping Asset Allocation: Making Sense of Modern Portfolios” and told ESG News afterwards that firms such as his were focusing on actively managed strategies as digital-asset markets matured, and that tokenised private debt and regulated Bitcoin yield products were pulling digital assets into mainstream capital markets.
Before XBTO, Naim held roles at Goldman Sachs, UBS and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, turning to entrepreneurship in 2015. He co-founded Purpl, a Hub71 startup building a digital wallet and remittance aggregator for Lebanon, and was its chief executive until November 2023; MEA Markets named him Most Transformational Financial Inclusion CEO 2023 for that work.
At Proof of Talk Paris 2026, held 2–3 June at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the Louvre Palace, Naim moderated an XBTO side event in the Roundtable Lounge on the first day, “What Role Should Digital Assets Play in Modern Client Portfolios”, and appeared as a panellist on the Taostats Stage session “Institutional Yield in Crypto: From Bitcoin Strategies to Onchain Vaults”, alongside Sunand Raghupathi, Dr. Martin Derka and Evan Feng, moderated by Travis Hayes.
What Karl believes about the next ten years.
Years of shipping.
Lines that keep proving correct.
“I am excited to introduce XBTO's unparalleled expertise in digital assets to institutions and family offices in the region. My focus will be on building a high-performing team and collaborating closely with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, positioning XBTO as the provider of choice for all digital asset-related services in the region.”
“This approval gives XBTO the strategic footing to engage more actively with regional partners and demonstrates our alignment with the UAE's vision of becoming a global hub for digital finance.”
“As digital asset markets mature and volatility compresses over time, firms like ours have been focusing on active strategies designed to generate alpha”
What they have built, written, and backed.
Built
- PurplA Hub71 startup offering a digital wallet and remittance aggregator for Lebanon. Naim co-founded it and served as chief executive until November 2023, work for which MEA Markets named him Most Transformational Financial Inclusion CEO 2023.
- XBTO Middle East LimitedThe Abu Dhabi entity Naim was appointed in April 2024 to establish. It holds an ADGM Financial Services Permission effective 14 May 2025, covering custody, matched-principal dealing, advising and arranging deals in virtual assets and related investments, and is not permitted to deal with retail clients.
Karl at Proof of Talk Paris 2026
- 2 June 2026Panel10:55Taostats Stage
Institutional Yield in Crypto: From Bitcoin Strategies to Onchain Vaults
with Sunand Raghupathi · Dr. Martin Derka · Evan Feng · Travis Hayes
- 2 June 2026Side Event12:00Roundtable Lounge
Workshop by XBTO: What Role Should Digital Assets Play in Modern Client Portfolios
The next Proof of Talk is in Abu Dhabi.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, 3–4 December 2026. Admission is by application, and the room is capped at 2,000.
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