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World's leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Binance has been granted a crypto-asset service provider licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted.
The license is Binance’s first in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
According to a Bloomberg report, the cryptocurrency exchange also got a licence to be the first anchor in Dubai World Trade Centre, an economic free zone.
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Its focus on the Middle East is part of the plans to expand in the region.
In December 2021, Binance signed a cooperation deal with Dubai World Trade Centre Authority to set up a global virtual asset ecosystem. Binance also received in December an in-principle approval from Bahrain's central bank to become a crypto-asset service provider.
The crypto-asset license will allow Binance to provide crypto-asset trading, custodial services and portfolio management to customers under the supervision of the regulators in Bahrain, Binance said in a statement.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder and CEO of Binance, said: "The licence from Bahrain is a milestone in our journey to being fully licensed and regulated around the world. I'm proud of the hard work of the Binance team to meet the stringent criteria of the Central Bank of Bahrain, not just locally but globally by ensuring that we meet and exceed the requirements of regulators and protect users with strong anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing policies."
Following the Russia-Ukraine war, Binance said that cardholders of sanctioned Russian banks would not be able to use them on their platform. It also restricted sanctioned individuals from accessing the platform.
(Reporting by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)
