“This Is The True Crypto Hub”: Frederica Tompkins Michell On Decentralisation, Brand Building, And Why Dubai Is Leading The Future

Michell, who joined Binance as Director of Global Brand Marketing in early 2024, isn’t your typical crypto campaigner. With a background featuring the likes of Chanel, Jimmy Choo and Ralph Lauren, she brings a commercial fluency rarely seen in blockchain circles. But that’s exactly the point. The story of crypto in the UAE isn’t just technical. It’s cultural, social, and increasingly, brand-led.

“This is the true hub of crypto globally,” she says. “Locally, there’s so many examples of both from a regulatory and governmental perspective and organisational perspective, looking at so many companies coming here to either found their businesses or re-headquarter themselves.”

It’s not just that Dubai has attracted global crypto exchanges. It’s that the region is now exporting a new kind of financial ethos – one rooted in access, efficiency and decentralisation. Michell sees this as more than a fintech trend. It’s a reset.

“The disintermediation of finance is really key, so it’s enabling peer-to-peer financial engagement, so anyone that has a phone and internet can engage in the financial ecosystem that is DeFi and crypto.”

She gives a practical example: “Using traditional banks to do that could cost you anywhere upwards… it could cost you $50 just to do that. If you look at crypto and DeFi, it could cost you $1, and it happens instantaneously… traditional banks that can take days, somewhere out to a week.”

Her pitch isn’t to crypto maximalists. It’s to everyday users, legacy financial professionals, and underrepresented groups.

“From a financial inclusion perspective, it’s an incredible opportunity.”

“I think women in the traditional financial world have been left behind to some extent, and we’re playing catch up. There’s such an amazing ecosystem of women in this industry… bringing more and more women into the fold and helping them better understand how they can be a participant in this revolution.”

That idea – of participation – is core to Michell’s remit at Binance. She leads the global teams responsible for community, social, campaign and content strategies. But her brand-building philosophy is less about broadcasting and more about listening.

“Crypto has grown because of community. Our founder has been amazing… listening to your users in a real-time way… experiences like these types of conferences… where you get the most information about how you should be evolving.”

It’s an approach rooted in education, too. “The beauty of crypto is, if you have an interest and you are curious, you can find so much information across the internet, and it’s free and available at any time.”

Michell points to Binance Academy – a free learning platform – as one example of how crypto isn’t just decentralised in structure, but in knowledge. That’s part of a broader narrative she’s working to communicate: that trust in this space isn’t built through hype. It’s built through transparency.

“DeFi in and of itself is, I think, the greatest innovation in combinational fintech we’ve seen,” she says. She also highlights digital contracts – “sometimes often referred to as NFTs… it’s an opportunity… a real-time reference to an agreement… binding and visible, transparent to the world.”

For all the buzzwords surrounding Web3, what Michell is articulating is something quieter but more profound: a reinvention of trust. One based not on institutional credibility, but on visible, verifiable systems.

As the lines between AI, crypto and fintech blur, Michell believes Dubai’s relevance will only deepen.

“I see it evolving tremendously. I think there’s going to be rapid growth in the next three years across not only FinTech, but AI, crypto and all the above. Dubai has become the hub of all of that, and I look forward to seeing so many companies grow here and work together to build that future.”

For Michell, the real innovation isn’t just in the code. It’s in the context. And in an industry still figuring out how to tell its story, she’s making the case that how you brand it might matter just as much as how you build it.