Bahrain Financial News

Binance cryptocurrency exchange has just scored a big win as its Italian offshoot, dubbed Binance Italy, has received approvalto operate in the country by the Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM).

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In March, Binance gained licenses from Dubai and Bahrain.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has registered with France's market regulator, Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet on Wednesday, advancing the company's plan to make Paris its European base.

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s authority responsible for regulating the financial market, has granted Binance’s registration to provide crypto-related services in the country.

Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has secured regulatory approval from the French government, boosting its operational plans across the European continent.

Californian crypto exchange Kraken becomes the second virtual asset platform after Binance to receive regulatory approval to operate in the Abu Dhabi international financial center and free zone, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has obtained a provisional green light from Abu Dhabi regulators, deepening its expansion in the Middle East.

Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, received in-principle approval to operate in Abu Dhabi, marking its third regulatory approval in the Middle Eastern region after Bahrain and Dubai. 

Major crypto exchange Binance won a battle in court on Thursday.

Last week got off to an antsy start as the clause that many interpreted as a direct route to ban proof-of-work-(PoW)-based cryptocurrencies made a sudden comeback to the draft of the European Union’s key directive on digital assets. Many in the crypto policy space got immediate flashbacks to other instances of harmful last-minute additions to must-pass legislation days and hours before the vote. It all ended well, though, as the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs voted against the draft that contained the hostile language. Over in the United States, monetary policy kept growing more political, as evidenced by Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Joe Biden’s pick for the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, being forced to withdraw her nomination due to a Senate gridlock. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took time off urgent matters of national defense to sign a bill granting digital assets legal status into law. Other big narratives of the week included crypto platforms’ expansion into the Gulf region, a slew of crypto-related statements and actions by members of the U.S. Congress and some favorable policy developments in Australia.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced on Wednesday that it had been granted a license to operate in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company’s presence in the Middle East has been building up lately, with a crypto service provider license in another Gulf market, Bahrain, coming in earlier this week.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced Wednesday that it has obtained a license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) to carry out some business operations in the region.

Dubai last week adopted its first law governing virtual assets.

cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been given a crypto-asset service provider licence by Bahrain's central bank, its first such licence in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the company and the bank said on Tuesday. «The licence from Bahrain is a milestone in our journey to being fully licensed and regulated around the world,» said Binance Chief Executive Officer CEO Changpeng Zhao in a joint statement with Bahraini authorities. The regulatory requirements will «protect users with strong anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing policies,» he added.

Major exchanges are intensifying their efforts to gain a foothold in the Arab Gulf States, and the regulators there seem to be more welcoming these days -- specifically, Binancehas secured a license to operate as a cryptoasset service provider in Bahrain, while its rival FTX recently received a digital asset exchange license in the United Arab Emirates.

Crypto exchange Binance will provide fully regulated services to its first country in the Middle East thanks to a license granted by Bahrain’s central bank.

Disclaimer: The findings of the following analysis are the sole opinions of the writer and should not be considered investment advice

Big Four accounting firm EY has recommended that banks should change their regulatory perimeter to address the oncoming launches of state-backed central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and private stablecoins. 

Bahrain is the latest nation to explore blockchain technology by American investment bank JPMorgan, with the country’s central bank trialing JPMorgan’s proprietary digital currency.

Rasheed Al Maraj, governor, Central Bank of Bahrain, says: "Through our work with ALBA, Bank ABC and Onyx by JP Morgan, we aspire to address and eliminate the inefficiencies and pain-points which exist today in the traditional cross-border payments arena."JP Morgan created the JPM Coin digital token in 2019 to enable the instant settlement of transactions between the bank's wholesale payments business clients.