Background & Biography
Arslanian’s route into digital assets began in financial law and banking. The University of Hong Kong’s biography records legal work in Canada and Hong Kong, followed by time at UBS Investment Bank in Hong Kong. He later became a partner and global crypto leader at PwC, advising businesses and public institutions on digital-asset initiatives. That background helps explain the combination of fund structures, operational questions and education that runs through his subsequent work.
His academic qualifications are documented by the university rather than inferred from professional titles. They include a law degree from the University of Montreal, postgraduate legal studies at Sherbrooke and Tsinghua, and the joint global executive MBA associated with Columbia, London Business School and HKU. The current university directory lists him as an Adjunct Professor teaching cryptocurrencies and financial technology. His earlier chairmanship of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong belongs to his professional history, not a claim that he currently leads the association.
In August 2022, Arslanian announced Nine Blocks alongside co-founder Andrew Goodwin. Contemporaneous reporting by The Block described a new institutional investment business incorporating Nine Masts Capital’s existing digital-asset trading operation. The company’s current website confirms that Hong Kong-based Nine Masts provided the first $75 million of capital, as well as working capital and institutional support. The inherited trading activity is important context when reading a performance-history start date that predates the Nine Blocks launch.
His current public professional profile identifies Dubai, and recent industry biographies continue to name him as Nine Blocks’ co-founder and managing partner. The firm describes a team working across Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. These are relevant operating connections, while HKU supplies a separate continuing academic connection to Hong Kong. The company’s office network and its investment vehicles should not be treated as evidence of Arslanian’s private residence or nationality.
Notable Contributions
Nine Blocks is Arslanian’s principal contribution to investment management. Its stated strategy seeks opportunities in relative pricing, funding and market structure rather than depending primarily on a sustained rise in cryptocurrency prices. The firm lists basis and funding arbitrage, quantitative approaches, volatility strategies, DeFi, relative value and special situations among its methods. This is a description of its investment approach. Market-neutral language is an objective about directional exposure, not proof that losses, counterparty failures or liquidity constraints have been eliminated.
The operating structure is equally significant. Nine Blocks’ public disclosures describe investor subscriptions entering a feeder fund, which invests in a master fund that deploys capital into digital assets. Its management business is therefore distinct from the vehicles through which investors participate. The same disclosures warn of substantial investment risk and refer readers to the offering memorandum for terms and risk factors. This profile does not infer current holdings, investor eligibility outside the verified licence scope, or performance from promotional descriptions of the strategy.
A concrete regulatory milestone arrived in November 2023. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority records a licence issued to Nine Blocks Capital Management FZE on 21 November, covering Management and Investment Services. As checked for this profile, the register marks it Active and permits service to Institutional Investors and Qualified Investors. This is stronger evidence than a launch announcement about provisional approval. The company also explicitly states that other group entities are not regulated under the FZE entity’s licence.
Arslanian’s contribution also includes the less visible operational work around digital-asset businesses. ACX International’s own leadership page names him as a co-founder and describes the company as a crypto-focused managed-services provider. Its published account includes compliance-framework implementation and services for exchanges, custodians and other crypto platforms. That is a separate business from Nine Blocks’ investment management. Offering compliance services does not make ACX a regulator or demonstrate that every client, product or transaction meets all applicable requirements.
Education gives his influence a different form. HKU confirms ongoing teaching in crypto and FinTech, while his published books organize material for readers beyond professional trading desks. Palgrave Macmillan’s The Book of Crypto, released in 2022, covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, central-bank digital currencies, DeFi, exchanges, funds and regulation. Its breadth makes it a useful record of his attempt to explain the ecosystem as a set of connected institutions and technologies. Publication establishes authorship and scope, rather than validating every market view expressed in the book.
Broadcasting extends that educational work. CNBC Arabia maintains a programme page for Crypto Weekly identifying Arslanian as its presenter. In his launch announcement, he described a format combining interviews, educational segments and discussion of industry developments with co-host May Ben Khadra. A recurring programme allows him to put practitioners’ and policymakers’ perspectives before a broader financial audience. Audience-reach claims and social-media follower counts are unnecessary to establish that contribution and are not used as measures of investment expertise.
His public commentary continues to connect these roles. A May 2026 BeInCrypto interview at Consensus discussed institutional participation, stablecoins, payments and the continuing importance of education. That interview is evidence of his current areas of attention, not a definitive account of legislation or a recommendation that investors should hold crypto. Keeping those categories separate is especially important for a speaker who is simultaneously an educator and a commercial participant in the industry.
Why Katharos.ai Follows Henri Arslanian
Katharos.ai follows Arslanian because he works on several practical questions about institutional participation. How is a crypto investment business organized? Which permissions apply to its manager? What information does an allocator need before committing capital? His legal and advisory history, followed by the Nine Blocks business, provides a documented basis for examining those questions. His role is most informative when assessed through actual structures, published disclosures and observable work.
The educational dimension is also distinctive. Classroom teaching, a substantial reference book and a financial television programme reach people with different levels of technical knowledge. They can shape which questions institutions and the public bring to digital assets. For editorial purposes, that influence should be evaluated alongside the financial interests attached to his businesses. An accessible explanation, a regulatory observation and a fund-marketing statement serve different purposes even when delivered by the same person.
Areas to Follow
- Investment operations: verified developments in Nine Blocks’ strategy, counterparties and fund structure, without converting investment objectives into return promises. - Licence scope: changes in the VARA register and which specific entity, activity and investor category they cover. - Institutional adoption: Arslanian’s explanations of stablecoins, tokenization and digital-asset access, checked against implemented products and primary policy records. - Professional services: ACX International’s documented offerings and the distinction between providing compliance support and exercising regulatory authority. - Education and media: new teaching, books and Crypto Weekly discussions, with commercial affiliations and the age of technical material kept visible.
Reporting Scope
This profile covers public professional information verified through 6 October 2026. It separates the investment manager, its feeder/master structure, ACX International and Arslanian’s university and media work. Historical launch funding is not current assets under management, and the 2023 operating licence is not backdated to the provisional status reported in 2022. No fund returns, personal wealth, undisclosed investments or private information are asserted.
Areas of Influence
Investment & Founders captures his role in Nine Blocks and ACX International. Community, Media & Education reflects university teaching, books and broadcasting. Policy & Regulation describes his documented advisory background and public engagement with regulatory questions; it does not designate a governmental office or give his interpretations the status of law. Together, these categories explain why his professional work is relevant beyond any single fund or market cycle.
Katharos.ai publishes this profile for information, based on the sources listed. Inclusion is not an endorsement of the individual, their organizations, or any investment product.
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