Middle East institutions prioritize wallet governance in digital asset infrastructure

US: US institutions are financial organizations in the United States assessing digital-asset infrastructure and related operational capabilities. They provide the comparison group in the report, assigning less priority to secure custody and wallet governance than Middle East institutions. Middle East institutions: Middle East institutions are banks, financial firms, and other organizations in the region developing or evaluating digital-asset capabilities. In the reported survey, they placed secure institutional custody and wallet governance above other criteria when selecting digital-asset infrastructure providers. Provider selection: Fireblocks’ Financial Grid survey identifies secure institutional custody and wallet governance as the leading criterion for digital-asset infrastructure provider selection globally, with especially strong emphasis among Middle East institutions. Governance challenge: The same regional analysis identifies internal governance as a major obstacle for Middle Eastern institutions building digital-asset capabilities, indicating that decision rights, controls, and operational accountability remain central implementation issues. Institutional readiness: The survey indicates that many financial institutions are still developing production-ready custody and wallet-governance infrastructure, making governance controls a key differentiator for infrastructure providers.