Honeymoons and luxury vacations could soon be outpaced by crypto as the main draw for the island nation of Maldives.

A Dubai-based family office plans to invest up to $8.8 billion in a blockchain-focused financial hub in the Maldives, part of an effort by the island nation to expand beyond its reliance on tourism and fisheries and address mounting debt obligations.

The investment, led by MBS Global Investments, will be deployed over five years and is structured around a new joint venture with the Maldives government.

The planned capital outlay exceeds the country’s GDP of around $7 billion. It will be funded through equity and debt, with preliminary commitments already exceeding $4 billion.

Finance Minister Moosa Zameer described the initiative as a step toward economic diversification in an FT interview. Zameer said the Maldives faces “the biggest challenge” in repaying external debt maturing over the next two years and that the project “could help ease some of the financial pressures we are facing.”

Under the proposed masterplan, the Maldives International Financial Centre will span 830,000 square meters, accommodate 6,500 residents, and generate employment for up to 16,000 people. It is being pitched as a global financial free zone centered on blockchain and digital asset services.

MBS Global Investments manages $14 billion in assets and is the family office of Qatari royal Sheikh Nayef bin Eid Al Thani. The hub is one of the first major forays of the island-nation into the crypto and blockchain ecosystem.

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