Bahrain’s restaurant group Al Abraaj Group becomes first public firm in Middle East to adopt Bitcoin

Al Abraaj Group has become the first publicly listed company in the Middle East to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury asset, following in the footsteps of MicroStrategy and Tesla.

Bahrain’s Al Abraaj Group has become the first public company in the Middle East to add Bitcoin to its corporate treasury, kicking things off with a purchase of 5 Bitcoin (BTC) and saying it plans to buy more in the future as part of a new long-term strategy.

In a Thursday press release, Abdullah Isa, head of the Bitcoin Treasury Committee at Al Abraaj, said the initiative reflects the company’s “forward-looking approach and commitment to increasing and maximizing shareholder value.”

“We believe that Bitcoin will play a central role in the future of finance, and we are pleased to be at the forefront of this shift in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

Abdullah Isa

To help roll out its Bitcoin strategy, Al Abraaj Group is teaming up with New York-based investment firm 10X Capital and plans to raise more funds to keep buying Bitcoin and increase the number of BTC units tied to each share.

Commenting on the collaboration, Hans Thomas, CEO of 10X Capital, said that with Bitcoin now on the balance sheet “anyone in the Gulf Cooperation Council with a brokerage account” could get exposure to the cryptocurrency through a publicly traded stock. Per the press release, Al Abraaj is also looking into Shariah-compliant financial tools that would allow the Islamic world to access Bitcoin “in a legitimate way.”

The company emphasized that the decision followed internal reviews and complies with the regulations of the Central Bank of Bahrain.