News
BitOasis Secures $30 Million In Funding To Accelerate Growth
BitOasis currently allows its users to buy and sell more than 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple.
BitOasis, the largest cryptocurrency platform in the MENA region, has successfully raised $30 million in a Series B round to accelerate its growth while ensuring high standards of regulatory compliance.
The platform was founded in 2015 by Ola Doudin, and it’s headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Thanks to its founder’s visionary ability to predict the increasingly important role cryptocurrencies are playing in the world, it had been perfectly positioned to take advantage of the cryptocurrency boom.
The funding round was co-led by Chicago-based VC firm Jump Capital, along with Wamda, the largest growth stage fund in the MENA region. Other investors that joined in include Alameda Research, Global Founders Capital, Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, and NXMH.
“The company perfectly embodies the elements we seek when investing in international crypto exchanges,” says Peter Johnson, a partner leading Jump Capital’s crypto strategy. “An exceptional team that deeply understands the market, a focus on regulatory compliance, and an ability to build a leading consumer brand”.
According to the official funding announcement, BitOasis wants to solidify its presence and refine its product offering in the countries the cryptocurrency platform already operates in while also expanding to nearby countries. BitOasis is also building strategic partnerships with the public sector to raise awareness around crypto safety, one of the biggest roadblocks to its wider adoption.
Also Read: A Beginner’s Guide To Getting Started With NFTs
“Our latest investment round serves as a vote of confidence in the BitOasis growth story,” commented Ola Doudin. “It further speaks to the state of interest in the MENA region’s growing crypto ecosystem, with global investors and venture capital heavyweights backing the region’s home-grown businesses”.
BitOasis currently allows its users to buy and sell more than 20 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple, with UAE Dirham (AED) and Saudi Riyal (SAR). To start trading, all that users have to do is sign up, verify their identity, and securely deposit funds through one of the supported options.
News
Lebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform
Finance and technology ministers say a comparative study and roadmap will follow before any decision on adopting a model.
Lebanon’s finance and technology ministers met representatives from Visa last week to discuss a proposed unified national digital payment platform for government services, according to a readout from the Ministry of Finance.
The meeting brought together Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence Kamal Shehadeh, a Visa delegation, and experts from both ministries. Discussion focused on whether Lebanon could establish a single platform through which citizens and institutions would pay taxes, fees, fines and other official transactions electronically, using mobile phones and other digital channels.
The Visa delegation presented examples from countries that have adopted unified government payment platforms, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Estonia and Jordan. According to the readout, the examples were presented as having increased collection rates and expanded financial inclusion.
Talks covered settlement mechanisms, direct transfer to the treasury account, financial reconciliation, risk management, cybersecurity, fees, and an operational model that would involve the private sector. The parties agreed to continue technical and institutional consultations, prepare a comparative study, and develop an implementation roadmap before any decision on adopting a model for Lebanon.
Jaber said the Ministry of Finance had already enabled citizens to pay using credit cards and e-wallets through transfer companies, but described the proposed platform as a further step. He framed the development of electronic payment and collection systems as a priority within the ministry’s modernization plan.
Also Read: Deezer Says AI Tracks Now Make Up 44% Of Uploads
Shehadeh outlined the citizen-facing concept as a single mobile application through which users could settle obligations to ministries, government institutions and other bodies.
“The idea, in short, is that any citizen downloads an application on their mobile phone, through which they can pay all service obligations for all ministries, government institutions, or those owned by the Lebanese state, and others as well, as the platform is not limited only to state institutions,” he said.
Shehadeh added that the platform would not displace banks and money transfer companies that currently provide collection services to the state, calling it complementary to their work.
Lebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform
AltoVolo Releases Sigma Footage & Sets Date For Demonstrator
Careem Launches Lebanon Aid Drive With WFP
United Arab Emirates To Quit OPEC After 59 Years
YouTube Tests Conversational AI Search Tool
Yango Ride Introduces In-Chat Trip Planning In ChatGPT
Deezer Says AI Tracks Now Make Up 44% Of Uploads
NVIDIA Puts GPT-5.5 Codex In Hands Of 10,000 Staff
United Arab Emirates To Quit OPEC After 59 Years
