Bahrain, a small kingdom rich in oil in the Persian Gulf, will soon see the opening of its first exchange, which will be called Rain.
The news comes from rumours leaked through government officials and, after the opening, the company will try to expand throughout the region, obtaining the necessary operating licenses.
The exchange already has an operational website and a waiting list of hundreds of names. The preparation for the launch of the platform took a year and is also linked to the opening of a storage service for professional operators in addition to the necessary services of purchase and sale.
The promoters of the initiative, who have been working on it since 2016, are Yehia Badawy, Abdullah Almoaiqel, AJ Nelson and Joseph Dallago and are supported by leading industry names such as Jimmy Song, developer of Bitcoin Core and the founder of Cumberland Mining, Mike Komaransky.
Obtaining an operating license as an exchange in the Persian Gulf is still a long process, outside of Dubai, where instead the world of cryptocurrencies is already widespread with several operators, such as BitOasis and Bit Pardo which are based in the city.
Rain’s founding team is not new to the industry, having gained experience in Abram Bit Gulf, BitQuick and Kraken and other companies in the industry.
The Middle East, rich in financial resources, apart from the exploit of Dubai, has so far been rather cold towards virtual currencies.
In August there was already talk of opening a regulated exchange in Egypt, but so far it has not been realized, while recently bitcoin was considered outlawed by the authorities of Saudi Arabia.
