Crypto license in Bahrain
Application fee
Пошлина за заявку
BD 100
100 BHD
Decision by law
Срок по закону
60 calendar days
60 календарных дней
Capital, exchange
Капитал биржи
BD 300,000
300 000 BHD
Annual fee ceiling
Потолок ежегодной
BD 12,000
12 000 BHD
When you need a Bahrain crypto license
You market crypto services from Bahrain
Incorporation here, a local correspondence address or direct approaches to clients in Bahrain each count as acting within or from the Kingdom.
You want to run an exchange
Operating a licensed crypto-asset exchange is the fourth category, and only a Bahraini joint stock company may hold that licence.
You only pass orders on
Receiving a client order and sending it to someone else for execution is the first category, with the smallest capital in the ladder.
You keep custody of client assets
Custody moves you up the ladder: safeguarding or arranging safekeeping of client crypto-assets is available from the second category onwards.
You advertise before the resolution
Presenting yourself as licensed before the central bank issues its resolution can sink the application and carries a penalty of up to a million dinars.
What you get
- A category matched to the services you sell
- A company form the rulebook accepts
- Capital confirmed by a Bahraini retail bank
- A readiness report the regulator signed off on
- A commencement file that opens the doors
How to set up a crypto business in Bahrain
Four categories, and your services choose one
| Category | What you may do | Minimum capital | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category 1 | receive and transmit orders, advise | BD 25,000 | BD 2,000–6,000 |
| Category 2 | trade as agent, manage portfolios, custody, advise | BD 100,000 | BD 3,000–8,000 |
| Category 3 | the above plus trading as principal, token advisory | BD 200,000 | BD 4,000–10,000 |
| Category 4 | operate an exchange, custody, token advisory | BD 300,000 | BD 5,000–12,000 |
Money that has to be in place
- Minimum capital is paid-up share capital unimpaired by losses, and it has to be paid into a retail bank licensed in Bahrain.
- The annual fee is 0.25% of relevant operating expenses inside the band for your category, due on 1 December for the year ahead.
- Liquid assets — cash, equivalents and deposits maturing within thirty days — must cover three months of expenditure including salaries and rent.
- A firm trading as principal keeps proprietary positions at cost within half of its paid-up capital or net shareholders' equity, whichever is lower.
- Breaching the capital requirement means notifying the regulator at once and filing a compliance plan within thirty calendar days.
The company you have to be
- Categories one to three take a Bahraini limited liability company or a joint stock company; the fourth takes a joint stock company only.
- A designated place of business in Bahrain is required, and a firm registered here keeps its head office here too.
- Senior management covers a chief executive, the business lines and control functions for finance, risk, internal audit, information security and compliance.
- Board members and senior managers go through the fit and proper module and need approval before appointment.
The wider country picture sits on our Bahrain page.
Why choose Bahrain for your crypto business
A ladder published in full
Category, permitted services, capital and fee band sit in one rulebook, so the cost of the route is known before anything is filed.
A decision with a date on it
The law gives the regulator sixty calendar days from a complete application, which is a commitment few crypto regimes put in writing.
A supervision fee with a ceiling
The annual charge is a share of your own operating expenses, and it cannot exceed twelve thousand dinars whatever the size of the business.
A line drawn around exchanges
Firms in the first three categories may not show a public order book or provide price discovery, which keeps the exchange licence meaningful.
Sources: CBB Rulebook Volume 6, Crypto-Asset Module CRA-1.1, CRA-1.2, CRA-1.5, CRA-1.6, CRA-2 and CRA-3; Stablecoin Issuance and Offering Module SIO-4.1; Central Bank of Bahrain and Financial Institutions Law 2006, arts 42 and 44–47 (cbb.gov.bh).
Stages of work
Meeting before the application
The licensing directorate expects at least one pre-application meeting, so we open in writing with a summary of the model and the questions it raises.
Category settled, company formed
The category is chosen against the services you actually sell, and the memorandum is drafted to permit those and preclude anything unrelated.
Forms, business plan and fee
Form 1 goes in with shareholder and management forms, the business plan, three-year projections, the flow of funds end to end and the hundred-dinar fee.
Sixty days and what fills them
The clock starts once the file is complete, so we clear queries fast and report any material change to the information already submitted.
Capital confirmed by a bank
Before final approval a retail bank in Bahrain writes to the regulator confirming that the minimum capital has been paid in.
Readiness assessment
An independent third party, approved in writing beforehand, reports on risk management, capital, structure, manuals, technology, information security and internal controls.
Commencement and the six-month clock
Premises, auditor acceptance, professional indemnity cover, corporate and client money accounts go in, and operations have to start within six months of the licence.
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