News

Anghami Teases Possible Cryptocurrency Token

Anghami may soon bring 70 million users into Web 3.0 with its new cryptocurrency token.

Published

5 years ago

November 10, 2021

anghami teases possible cryptocurrency token

Anghami, one of the MENA region’s most popular music streaming services has hinted through its co-founder, Elie Habib, the possibility of creating their own cryptocurrency token known as “Anghami” token.

Earlier today, Habib posted a screenshot of his personal Anghami account showing a new section which would potentially allow users to connect their MetaMask or Rainbow Ethereum wallets in order to start earning the company’s new token as well as invest in select artists and podcasters.

elie habib anghami cryptocurrency token

As a caption for Habib’s post, he wrote “Probably nothing” which makes users believe that the company is most probably up to something interesting.

Also Read: Anghami Lab Venue To Bridge Digital And Traditional Entertainment

Discord’s CEO, Jason Cirton, shared a similar screenshot on his Twitter account yesterday hinting that Discord accounts linked to Ethereum may be on their way.

discord could be adding ethereum cryptocurrency

With the spotlight on Web 3.0, it seems like companies around the world are racing to the decentralized web.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.