Regulation & Policy
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Bahrain, CoinMENA receives crypto exchange license from the European Union. CoinMENA will now be able to expand to new jurisdictions in the MENA region and beyond, as well as increase the number of crypto assets and crypto financial services on the platform.
Launched in 2021 by Dina Sam'an, Talal Tabbaa, and Yazan Barghuthi, CoinMENA was built primarily to address a market gap that existed for easy and safe access to crypto investing. Today, as a fully regulated, onshore crypto exchange licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, CoinMENA has not only successfully bridged the gap but also become the go-to exchange, known for its prompt transactions, a wide variety of assets, excellent customer service, and easy-to-use mobile app.
In the past 7 months, CoinMENA has been the fastest growing cryptocurrency exchange in the MENA region, growing 140% month over month. During this time, they increased the number of crypto assets on the platform from 5 to 13, and plan to list several more in the coming weeks. CoinMENA currently supports five countries and allows users to trade/invest in crypto using their local currency.
"Regulatory compliance is a main priority for CoinMENA. In addition to expanding our service offering, the EU license would strengthen our banking relationships with regional and global banks. This move fulfills one of our primary objectives which is to be the best and easiest platform to on-ramp and off-ramp from crypto in the region. This is just the beginning for CoinMENA as we aim to roll out additional crypto financial services built on Web 3.0 and crypto rails " - Joint statement by co-founders Dina Sam'an and Talal Tabbaa.
In September 2021, CoinMENA announced a $9.5 million. CoinMENA's investor BECO Capital is a technology-focused venture capital whose well-known investments include MENA's three unicorns: Swvl, Kitopi, and Careem. Hong Kong's Kenetic is known for its investment into BlockFi, a leading crypto lending platform, and Securitize, a leading crypto asset securities firm.
Arab Bank (Switzerland) Ltd., the sister company of Arab Bank plc, is a recognized Swiss Bank offering Digital Assets services since 2019. Bunat Ventures is a venture builder and VC firm focused on incubating and investing in promising regional startups. Alameda Research, owned by crypto billionaire Sam-Bankman Fried, is a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm that provides liquidity in cryptocurrency and crypto assets markets.
The exchange's services are currently available to residents of Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, and will soon expand to other countries.
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