Middle-East gets the first licensed crypto exchange

[Baofeng]

Bahrain-based cryptocurrency exchange, Rain, has acquired the Crypto-Asset Module (CRA) license from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). It has closed a seed round of $2.5MM USD along with BitMEX Ventures. With this, Rain has become the first licensed crypto exchange in the Middle East.

https://askrypto.com/news/2019/07/middle-east-gets-the-first-licensed-crypto-exchange/

What do you guys think? Is this the start of the Middle East crypto exchange boom?

There's a lot of money in that region, so it get's me thinking that perhaps majority of Middle East wealth will go to crypto.

[OmegaStarScream]

It's apparently in partnership with Bittrex as well. This will clearly work perfectly with Gulf countries but I don't see how they'll operate in North Africa as most of the countries there are either politically unstable or have bitcoin banned.

[Slow death]

This is good news and I hope it brings more demand and more countries follow this path, something I saw in the article:

However, Chicago based crypto exchange ErisX obtained derivatives clearing organization license from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

I hope they can bring more investors into the crypto world and can show governments that this is a market that can bring good things.

[gentlemand]

Interesting. There's an absolute mountain of money there and I've always found it strange how quiet it's been. One of the factors seems to be the muddiness from Muslim clerics as to whether it's naughty or not to use or trade it. There's almost as much contradiction as the Russian government. I guess we need Allah to thunder his approval from the clouds above.

[sunsilk]

Great initiative and good news. I didn't expected that in the Middle-East there will be this kind of innovation. They've just made history and probably nearby countries are going to take a look at the industry and will do compete if they see the business of an exchange doing well.

And for the users nearby ME, this is an ease for them.

[Baofeng]

Yes, same thoughts with you guys, I think this is very huge news for crypto, we all know that it has no boundaries but this news put a strong hold on of the the biggest continents out there, with so much money to burn, lol. OmegaStarScream put forth a good argument, I don't know how it is going to be in North Africa though, very unstable government in that region, but we will see how bitcoin or crypto in general will break that barriers in the next coming years.

[hugeblack]

It's apparently in partnership with Bittrex as well. This will clearly work perfectly with Gulf countries but I don't see how they'll operate in North Africa as most of the countries there are either politically unstable or have bitcoin banned.

I think that when we talk about the Middle East and North Africa, this means the Arab countries as a term and not as a geographical location.
Also, many of the legislation that criminalizes dealing with BTC in some North African countries are laws that can be changed by changing the mood towards these currencies and may not change in some countries.

[1Referee]

OmegaStarScream put forth a good argument, I don't know how it is going to be in North Africa though, very unstable government in that region, but we will see how bitcoin or crypto in general will break that barriers in the next coming years.

Well, we don't really have anything to lose but a lot to gain. In the end, mostly it just requires an event like this to trigger a lot of innovation in a region that by nature is very conservative. This might be the trigger they needed to actually build something of value. The liquidity that will become available might be peanuts for western standards, but there it's one heck of an achievement.

I can only welcome this form of adoption. Over-regulating industries or banning something that brings innovation is similar to shooting yourself in the foot, so this is an unexpected surprise. North African countries are the ones that are in need of innovation and economical growth the most, and this is the easiest way to go.

[erikalui]

Bitcoins are much recognized in Middle east cities and even Bitoasis is a big exchange of Dubai which has acquired preliminary license to operate there. So there are more exchanges that have got a preliminary license as well to trade and exchange.

Also, Mashreq bank and ENBD are not accept crypto at all so even though Rain managed to get a license, it won't enable withdrawals like these two banks and ENBD is one of the big banks there.