Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, announced that its Bahraini branch has received a Category 4 license from the Central Bank of Bahrain, allowing it to offer a wider range of services to users in the Middle Eastern country.
- Binance Bahrain was granted a provisional license in December and a full license in March.
- The new classification "will enable Binance Bahrain to offer a full range of crypto asset exchange services," the company said on its website Thursday.
- The exchange is the first crypto service provider to hold a full Category 4 license in the country, it said.
- Last year, the exchange was targeted by regulators in a number of countries, including the U.K., Japan and Israel. Since then, it has been recruiting from the ranks of former regulators to bolster its compliance department.
- The company has also increased its operations in the Middle East. In March, it received a limited operating license in Dubai, and in April it received preliminary approval to operate as a broker-dealer in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.