Bitcoin In The Middle East

At this week's three day DisruptNY conference, BitOasis

plans to launch a new bitcoin buying platform aimed at customers in the Middle East and North Africa. The Dubai-based firm said the company sees a huge potential in expanding through that region as a large segment of the population is unbanked.

At the moment, BitOasis purchases bitcoin through other markets and serves as a brokerage for users, however Co-founder Ola Doudin said her long term plan is that the firm will eventually open a cash-in, cash-out service in order to provide a financial service for the huge market that has previously been locked out of traditional banks. When BitOasis first launched back in January, the company also rolled out a high security bitcoin wallet. Since then, it has signed on 15,000 users from Egypt, the UAE, Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Doudin said networking will be an important part of the company's long-term growth as BitOasis currently only serves markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Since her firm is one of the only cryptocurrency startups with access to those markets, it could be an appealing partner for a US firm looking to expand.

For the moment, BitOasis is set to focus on growing its userboase in the MENA region. Cryptocurrency awareness in that part of the world has been lagging, but BitOasis is hoping to capitalize on the growing use of smartphones in that area by developing a mobile wallet later in the year. Doudin also said that working with officials in Dubai has been beneficial as the region has always been keen to stay at the forefront of innovation, so regulators have been open to working with the firm.