During his speech at the GCC Financial Forum in Manama, Khalid Al-Rumaihi, the CEO of the Bahrain’s Economic Development Board, admitted the Kingdom is looking closely into cryptocurrencies. He did not exclude the opportunity for the country to issue bonds on a digital currency.
Al-Rumaihi confirmed that one Saudi Arabian company had expressed its interest in establishing a bitcoin exchange in Bahrain. The government along with the Central Bank of Bahrain is now investigating the opportunities. Al-Rumaihi said:
I hate to be a regulator today. Because we are obliged to protect the consumers and customers. There is fear about funding and anti-money laundering. We are going to be looking through the Regulatory Sandbox allowing small-scale experimentation.
As part of its efforts to become a leading tech hub in the MENA region, Bahrain has recently launched a regulatory sandbox to allow tech startups experiment with their technologies before entering the markets. So far, four companies have applied to work in the sandbox. Only two of them already received approval.
According to Al-Rumaihi, adopting the blockchain technologies would unlock many different options for new businesses. It would also help Bahrain turn into a pioneer in this field in the region. The first step has already been made. Recently, the Manama-based Arab Banking Corporation (Bank ABC), became the first bank in the MENA region to join the R3 distributed ledger consortium.
As Sael Al Waary, the deputy group CEO at Bank ABC commented, the collaboration would allow the bank offer cutting-edge financial products for its customers. In addition to that, it would also help the bank achieve its long-term strategic goals. For Stuart Rennie, the Bank ABC’s group head of ICT, the access to the rich knowledge database of the R3 consortium would allow the bank to leverage its investment in technology and expand its digital delivery strategy.