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Onramp MENA
Research

Long-form analysis on Bitcoin: the asset, its custody, and the institutional case.

Onramp MENA's analytical work on Bitcoin: the asset class, its custody, the regulatory frameworks, and the strategic considerations facing institutions and family offices that hold it. Each piece is cited to primary sources, written for readers preparing their own analysis.

Published
  1. Two brushed-metal blocks meeting at a single lit seam, on a dark ground
    Macro 22-minute read

    What actually moves the bitcoin price

    Twenty-eight macro conditions tested against fourteen years of bitcoin returns. The halving, the money supply and central bank liquidity fail. One relationship survives every test: the dollar. What it means for different institutional portfolios, with the workbook published alongside.

    BitcoinDollarMoney supplyPortfolio
  2. A stack of brushed-metal bars with the top bar suspended above the rest, on a dark ground
    Macro 20-minute read

    There is nowhere left to hide

    US equities pay 0.09 percent over inflation-linked bonds, a level seen in 126 months since 1881, clustered around 1929, 1937 and 1999. The cheap markets on a screen hold three or ten companies. Gold is at twice its normal relationship to money. This piece works through where an allocator can actually go.

    ValuationGoldBitcoinRates
  3. Machined-metal dice scattered on dark slate under cold raking light, every face showing a single pip. One die sits apart in sharp focus, catching a brass edge of light.
    Custody 11-minute read

    What the Coldcard exploit means for how you hold Bitcoin

    Beginning 30 July 2026, attackers exploited a 2021 firmware flaw in Coldcard hardware wallets to brute-force seeds remotely, draining roughly 1,816 BTC from more than 5,200 addresses. The devices were air-gapped and used correctly. This piece sets out what actually failed, and what failure containment rather than failure avoidance looks like in custody design.

    BitcoinCustodySelf-custodySecurityHardware wallets
  4. Three identical brushed-steel cubes in a row on a dark surface, toned navy: distributed, independent, equal.
    Custody 21-minute read

    How to hold Bitcoin

    Regulated access to Bitcoin is solved. Custody is not. One custodian safekeeps over 80% of the Bitcoin behind US spot ETFs, and a decade of insolvencies shows that "custodied" can mean "unsecured creditor." Every exposure vehicle and custody model is scored on one rubric, and custody distributed across independent institutions emerges as the fiduciary default.

    BitcoinCustodyMulti-institution custodyInstitutionalETFsSelf-custody
  5. Concentric grooves in brushed metal radiating from a bright centre, toned navy
    Macro 24-minute read

    Gold, the dollar, and bitcoin

    The monetary order is fragmenting, and capital is looking for a hedge. Gold and bitcoin are usually framed as rival answers to the same question. They are better understood as instruments built for different problems: gold the defensive holding, bitcoin the asymmetric bet.

    BitcoinGoldDe-dollarizationReserves
  6. Raking light across the layered edges of archival paper
    Regulation 14-minute read

    The CBB Cat-2 framework: a comparative analysis

    This article situates the Central Bank of Bahrain's Crypto-Asset Module (Volume 6) against comparable institutional crypto-custody regimes in the GCC and adjacent jurisdictions: ADGM FSRA, DFSA, VARA, and the federal Capital Markets Authority (formerly SCA).

    BahrainComparative analysis