Ripple has announced a strategic partnership with Bahrain Fintech Bay to expand blockchain and stablecoin infrastructure across the Middle East, positioning Bahrain as a regional hub for compliant digital asset deployments.
The collaboration builds on Ripple’s Dubai Financial Services Authority license secured earlier this year and responds to growing demand from Gulf institutions seeking regulated adoption of digital asset technologies.
Reece Merrick, Ripple’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, highlighted Bahrain’s early leadership in blockchain adoption and cryptoasset regulation. As part of the partnership, Ripple plans to introduce its digital asset custody solution and RLUSD stablecoin to Bahrain’s financial institutions.
Ripple and Bahrain Fintech Bay will jointly work on pilot projects, accelerator initiatives, and educational programs aimed at expanding real-world use cases such as tokenization, cross-border payments, and stablecoin applications.
Ripple is also participating in the Fintech Forward 2025 conference in Sakhir alongside regional banks, regulators, and global fintech firms.
Suzy Al Zeerah, COO of Bahrain Fintech Bay, noted that the partnership reflects the Kingdom’s long-standing role as a financial services hub and its commitment to enabling global innovators to test and deploy new solutions within the local ecosystem.
Bahrain Fintech Bay, launched in 2018 through a public-private initiative with the Bahrain Economic Development Board and the FinTech Consortium, has been a key partner of the Central Bank of Bahrain in advancing fintech regulation and collaboration.
In July, the Central Bank of Bahrain introduced a regulatory framework for licensing stablecoin issuers, permitting the issuance of single-currency stablecoins backed by the Bahraini Dinar, U.S. Dollar, or other approved fiat currencies.
Ripple currently holds more than 60 regulatory licenses and registrations worldwide, and its RLUSD stablecoin is central to the company’s strategy of bridging tokenized assets with traditional payment infrastructure.
