UAE Crypto Firm The First Granted The Sandbox License
The digital currency exchange, Palmex powered by ArabianChain technology has been conceded an administrative sandbox license by Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). This move will be successful from one month from now i.e. July 15.
As per the neighborhood local report, the Dubai-based blockchain startup is apparently “the first and only cryptocurrency exchange in the Middle East and North Africa to receive a regulatory sandbox license.”
On this improvement, the founder, and CEO of ArbianChain, Mohammed Alsehli expressed:
“ArabianChain will start with a limited number of select users to test and optimize the process and then expand to the rest.”
A regulatory sandbox is fundamentally a system and in addition, a procedure that encourages the advancement of Fintech industry in a safe way. This regulatory sandbox requires the companies to cling to the CBB regulations that include Anti-Money Laundering, Countering Financing of Terrorism and Know your Customer (KYC). Besides, following the correct disclosure, compensation, and protection requirements identified with clients.
Alsehli additionally elucidated:
“The wild fluctuations and the phenomenal surge in valuation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have continued to drive exponential growth in demand to trade and issue digital assets. The region has been eagerly waiting for a regulator-approved platform that makes it possible for them to buy and sell in a secure environment.”
Bahrain presented regulatory sandbox toward the end of 2017 keeping in mind the end goal to permit the experimentation of digital currencies in a controlled environment. In January this year, Malaysia-based crypto tech provider, Belfrics Global was permitted to open a crypto exchange under regulatory sandbox.
By enabling a regulatory sandbox, Bahrain is intending to emerge as a crypto exchange hub. Beforehand the CEO of Bahrain Fintech Bay had told a media source,
“As long as the business qualifies as a fintech (financial technology), we will welcome it. The focus is on developing the culture of entrepreneurship in Bahrain.”
As for the regulating or legitimizing the cryptocurrencies that are under the scope of CBB whose stance on crypto legality has been commented previously by a government official,
“As of now, we recognize cryptocurrency as a commodity that can be traded in the exchanges. We are not considering it as a legal tender in any form.”