According to reports, a renowned crypto exchange, identified as Binance has been awarded a Bahrain crypto service provider license. This development, however, allows the crypto exchange to provide varieties of regulated crypto services to Bahraini citizens. Binance reportedly acquired the license from Bahrain’s central bank, granting the exchange the privilege to begin fully governed operations to its first country in the Middle East.
Accordingly, Bahrain successfully issued the provider license via the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). The acquisition of the license became announced by the exchange and her CEO, Changpeng Zhao on March 14. With the receipt of the license, Binance becomes eligible to offer varieties of crypto services.
The services include trading, custody, and management of portfolios for customers based in the smallest economy of the Middle East. Recall that the crypto exchange received an in-principal approval to operate in Bahrain last December. Now, the approval becomes fully-fledged with the issuance of the license to the crypto service provider.
According to the governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), HE Rasheed Al Maraj, the apex bank intends to enable regulations in line with global trends in a bid to foster innovations and best practices.
More so, the issued license allows Binance to sustain her expansion operations across the jurisdictions of the world. However, such expansion efforts must be in line with local regulations. Just last week, the Binance CEO reiterated his commitment to making the exchange identify and invest in traditional businesses.
According to him, investment in these businesses across every economic sector within the globe, particularly with the intent of attaching them to cryptocurrencies remains feasible.
Bahrain as one of the most friendly countries in the Middle East
However, despite her obvious size to others, Bahrain remains one of the most crypto-friendly countries in the Middle East. Last January, the Apex bank in the country successfully tested JP Morgan’s crypto payment system. A well-known media, on January 10 reported how the usage of crypto-based payment systems tends to help CBB address existing inefficiencies in the traditional cross-border payments industry.
Furthermore, the manifesting licenses to operate in each region gives Binance a ground to achieve its set goals. Last month, the exchange acquired its most notable asset, the news media publisher, Forbes for a huge sum of $200 million.
With the effort of the CBB, the country gets an edge over Dubai as the crypto hub of the region. The financial crypto regulations in Bahrain gets ahead of Dubai, which disallows service delivery by crypto exchanges to its residents.
In February, the CEO of Bahrain-based crypto exchange, CoinMENA, Talal Tabbaa told CNN that the Apex bank possesses advanced crypto regulations. He stressed that sorting banking issues possess the tendency to enable Dubai to become the number one destination for crypto. Accordingly, getting the issue associated with banking in Dubai remains feasible this year.
Recently, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid started a crypto legal framework in Dubai. He maintained the framework intends to protect investors and design international standards for the governance of the crypto industry.
