OpenNode is testing Bitcoin payments with the Central Bank of Bahrain

[nullama]

The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country on the Persian Gulf, located between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with a population of about one and a half million people.

OpenNode is expanding its operations around the world and it is now testing Bitcoin payments in the island country.

During the testing phase, OpenNode intends to show the central bank that Bitcoin has the capacity to expand the Bahrain economy by strengthening businesses in the region.

"This is a watershed moment for the people of Bahrain, the Middle East and the Bitcoin economy as a whole,” said Afnan Rahman, CEO and co-founder of OpenNode.

“OpenNode's leading Bitcoin infrastructure solution continues to pave the way for countries, governments and reputable financial institutions to adopt the Bitcoin standard and transact on the lightning network," Rahman concluded.

Companies like OpenNode will clearly help Bitcoin adoption all around the world, specially for governments and large institutions, which I think still rely on third parties to integrate these things.

[EarnOnVictor]

This is a welcome development if it is true. After all, our prayer is for Bitcoin to be better known and adopted all around the world. If Bahrain could be one of the foremost countries to work Bitcoin out with their central bank, history will always remember them. But the issue with the OpenNode of a thing is that we can't ignore the fact that there is a third party involved in your transactions if you use them or the merchant you are using uses them.

This is limiting the decentralization of Bitcoin transactions, which I don't like regardless of what they are bringing to the table. The transaction cost will be higher too as usual, to the extent that they add more than what they are supposed to add using different Bitcoin prices as an excuse.

[nullama]

This is a welcome development if it is true. After all, our prayer is for Bitcoin to be better known and adopted all around the world. If Bahrain could be one of the foremost countries to work Bitcoin out with their central bank, history will always remember them. But the issue with the OpenNode of a thing is that we can't ignore the fact that there is a third party involved in your transactions if you use them or the merchant you are using uses them.

This is limiting the decentralization of Bitcoin transactions, which I don't like regardless of what they are bringing to the table. The transaction cost will be higher too as usual, to the extent that they add more than what they are supposed to add using different Bitcoin prices as an excuse.

If a Central Bank is involved, then there's always going to be some kind of fiat in there. And if that's the case, then intermediaries are always going to be there.

You don't need any company to start using Bitcoin, so any news about a company doing something related to Bitcoin with a bank or government will probably always have some kind of intermediary.

[DaveF]

Since it was a bit light on details we don't know exactly what they are going to be doing with OpenNode. But, at least here in the US a lot of government things are done by 3rd party people. It's just easier and quicker and usually cheaper for a lot of things.

Places like the DMV, that take credit cards use 3rd party processors. If they wanted to take BTC could they spin up their own nodes and come to an agreement with some exchange for getting it converted to fiat, yes. Would it be easier / quicker and probably cheaper to just get a payment processor to do it for them, also yes.

Till we know more of what they are doing I'll file this under a good thing.

-Dave

[Asiska02]

As we all eagerly await the day when bitcoin will be widely and legally accepted throughout the world, it is always encouraging to learn about nations taking steps to adopt it. One issue, though, that I continue to ponder is if it will ever be feasible to use bitcoin without any third party intervention when adopted by the government? In particular when it comes to money, the government wouldn't want a system that would restrict them to only some certain things available within their own nation. However, we continue to hold out hope that one day, bitcoin will be accepted as a fully-autonomous, international form of legal money.

[Upgrade00]

One issue, though, that I continue to ponder is if it will ever be feasible to use bitcoin without any third party intervention when adopted by the government?

Most likely not. One reason for this would be scalability issues; using Bitcoin as an accepted means of exchange would increase the demand for faster transactions, increasing the demand for 3rd party systems like BTC processors, or lightening network (best case scenario), or some centralized exchange system which is adopted by citizens (worse case scenario).

Another reason is how governments always want centralized and controlled systems. They wish to give the impression of being a citizens watchdog, which prevents them from getting into trouble, but in reality, they seek more control, which is not available on Bitcoin, without the use of 3rd parties.

As we all eagerly await the day when bitcoin will be widely and legally accepted throughout the world,

If you can use Bitcoin today, you don't need to wish on any day where governments get into it.

[NeuroticFish]

Companies like OpenNode will clearly help Bitcoin adoption all around the world

Companies tend to care mostly about their income. If bitcoin adoption helps their income, then they will help in that. But don't expect miracles. (Still, the news is good.)
I also expect OpenNode develop some pretty much centralized solution "to save fees" (and be able to work mostly with IOUs).
It's good that they can handle both LN and on-chain tx, but I fear that the centralized solution is what they're eyeing. I hope I'm wrong.

[SFR10]

This is indeed good news, but the following highlighted part is a bit confusing... AFAICS, half of the companies that got "approval for the regulatory sandbox of CBB in 2019" were cryptocurrency-related and some of them had and still have something to do with Bitcoin!

• The CBB’s Regulatory Sandbox will provide the necessary proving grounds to test bitcoin payments in the region, which until now have been non-existent according to the release.

[worldofcoins]

Companies tend to care mostly about their income. If bitcoin adoption helps their income, then they will help in that. But don't expect miracles. (Still, the news is good.)
I also expect OpenNode develop some pretty much centralized solution "to save fees" (and be able to work mostly with IOUs).
It's good that they can handle both LN and on-chain tx, but I fear that the centralized solution is what they're eyeing. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree with what you said about companies that they care only about them, the fact most of us also care about ourselves, so I don't mean it negatively towards the companies.
The companies have to pay the employees for various services, and it can be a pain if they don't profit from bitcoin so they'll speak negatively about bitcoin or wouldn't approve of it.

[NeuroticFish]

Companies tend to care mostly about their income. If bitcoin adoption helps their income, then they will help in that. But don't expect miracles. (Still, the news is good.)
I also expect OpenNode develop some pretty much centralized solution "to save fees" (and be able to work mostly with IOUs).
It's good that they can handle both LN and on-chain tx, but I fear that the centralized solution is what they're eyeing. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree with what you said about companies that they care only about them, the fact most of us also care about ourselves, so I don't mean it negatively towards the companies.
The companies have to pay the employees for various services, and it can be a pain if they don't profit from bitcoin so they'll speak negatively about bitcoin or wouldn't approve of it.

Clearly. My point is that we should not expect them to implement the best setup/solution out of kindness, instead be aware that they may implement a solution we may not like, but brings them more profit.

[avikz]

The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country on the Persian Gulf, located between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with a population of about one and a half million people.

It's a good development. Even though Baharin's population is just about one and a half million, it is an extremely wealthy country due to its abundant natural resources. So if bitcoin is accepted by their central bank, we can expect a huge inflow into the bitcoin market due to the purchasing power its citizens hold. 

Companies like OpenNode will clearly help Bitcoin adoption all around the world, specially for governments and large institutions, which I think still rely on third parties to integrate these things.

Well it's a business and whatever OpenNode is doing, is for business! But if it is helping bitcoin at the same time, then it's definitely a new to cheer for!

[Leviathan.007]

Bahrain is a small country in the Persian Gulf and I visited this country a few years ago, from what I saw I can say Bahrain can bring good change for business people and their governments will pay attention to how they attract other business people to Bahrain, in this case, bitcoin can be changed for Bahrain to don't lose the chance and just like many other countries in the middle east like UAE they can start the bitcoin adoption in their country and in my own idea, this can be a result of the demand from people Bahrain.