Egypt’s First Bitcoin Exchange Prepares For Lift-Off

sergey44 (66)in #crypto • 7 years ago

Egypt is to get its first cryptocurrency exchange in September when Bitcoin Egypt prepares to go live. Offering trading in the country’s currency Egyptian pounds, the exchange is a first mover in a country which lacks any form of regulatory framework for digital currency. Bitcoin Egypt co-founder Rami Khalil told Reuters today: "We're still waiting on the Egyptian government to set some kind of regulations [...] Without any laws, Bitcoin is not legal money in Egypt. Cryptoassets are happening whether [the Egyptian government] joins in or not. And by not joining they're missing out on a very big market.”Bitcoin Egypt co-founder Omar Abdelrasoul explained to local news resource Albawaba: “We got the idea after we saw that there were lots of people in Egypt who wanted to trade cryptocurrencies but they were a hard time doing it on international exchanges as they were unable to buy coins using EGP.” Authorities have taken a hardline stance towards the nascent technology this year, issuing a statement suggesting - somewhat ironically - that dealing in any currency other than pound would cause “instability.”