The exchange caters to residents residents of Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman. The European license will fuel further expansion.
CoinMENA has been granted a cryptocurrency license from the European Union as the firm founded by Talal Tabbaa, Dina Sam’an, and Yazan Barghuthi in 2021 aims to enter one of the largest markets in crypto.
The Bahrain-headquartered onshore crypto assets exchange plans 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.
Licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, the fully regulated, onshore crypto exchange offers a wide variety of assets, customer service, and an easy-to-use mobile app.
Dina Sam’an and Talal Tabbaa, co-founders at CoinMENA, commented: “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.”
CoinMENA has grown by 140% month over month since the past seven months as the number of crypto assets on the platform increased from 5 to 13. The exchange plans to list more digital assets in the coming weeks.
Having launched with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the firm currently operates in five countries and allows users to trade/invest in crypto using their local currency.
The exchange caters to residents residents of Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman. The European license will fuel further expansion.
The onboarding process is swift, taking less than a minute to sign up and less than 24 to complete account verification. It can be performed on its mobile app, which is designed for both beginners and professional traders.
CoinMENA is backed by BECO Capital, Kenetic, Arab Bank, Bunat Ventures, and Alameda Research, having raised $9.5 million from then in a funding round in September 2021.
BECO Capital is a technology-focused venture capital which has previously invested in 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.
