Bahrain’s Central Bank Grants Binance Initial Approval

Bahrain’s Central Bank Grants Binance Initial Approval

Binance still needs to complete an application process, CEO Changpeng Zhao wrote in an email to Bloomberg News.

If successful, this will mark the first regulatory approval for the cryptocurrency exchange in the Middle East and North Africa. Binance is expanding its regional presence, as executives prepare to set up potential headquarters in the Gulf countries.

Bahrain has been one of the Middle East’s early adopters of digital assets. The Gulf’s smallest economy approved the first licensed crypto-asset platform in the region, Rain Financial, in 2019, and granted another license to Manama-based CoinMENA earlier this year.