This website requires JavaScript.

Share

Tech & Business

3.16.2022

Binance arrives in Bahrain, the Middle East opens up to crypto-currencies

The largest trading platform for crypto-currencies, these virtual currencies that have been the talk of the town for several years now, has just obtained a license to operate in Bahrain. A strong signal that the Middle East authorities believe in these new currencies, one month after the adoption by Dubai of a new law regulating virtual assets.

For those who have never heard of it before, Binance is an online platform that allows to hold, sell or exchange crypto-currencies. Thus, anyone armed with a smartphone or a computer, can turn into an online financial tycoon, provided they have the flair.

Governments still skeptical

However, there are still administrations that are wary of this new market, of these new currencies. Rightly so? It’s hard to say for sure. However, Binance, the biggest and best-known platform (there are others) does not necessarily see itself rolling out the red carpet everywhere.

For example, the platform, founded in China in 2017, is currently looking to expand its footprint in the Middle East. In an encouraging sign that this development is on track, Binance has just received a license from the Central Bank of Bahrain, which regularizes its crypto asset trading and portfolio management activities. A first in the Gulf.

The move comes less than a month after Dubai passed the emirate’s first law regulating virtual assets.

 

A key region

As a reminder, the Middle East received $271.7 billion in crypto-currencies between July 2020 and June 2021, representing 6.6% of global activity, according to data from Chainalysis. A not insignificant market in a region with a young population, with one of the fastest growths in the world. Over the period July 2020-June 2021, the UAE ranks third among the countries with the highest transaction volume, with a transaction volume of $25.5 billion, behind Turkey ($132.4 billion) and Lebanon.

Published on 16 March 2022

#Arab world

#Middle-East