Al Abraaj’s Bitcoin move underscores Bahrain’s ambition to establish itself as a tech-friendly hub while encouraging other Gulf corporations.
With the recent Gulf Summit 2025 focusing on RWA tokenization and regional growth trends, Al Abraaj’s announcement could catalyze broader Bitcoin adoption in the Gulf.

The Bitcoin doctrine is spreading across corporations worldwide, with Bahrain-based Al Abraaj Restaurants Group becoming the first publicly listed company in the entire Middle East region to add BTC to its balance sheet. This shows that companies are becoming more confident in holding Bitcoin as an asset class.

Over the past few years, the Bitcoin adoption story has mostly been driven by Western companies like MicroStrategy, Tesla, and others, leading the pack. Over the last few years, this doctrine has spread overseas with firms like Metaplanet, a Japan-based publicly listed company, acquiring massive amounts of BTC in a very short time.

Inspired by Michael Saylor, Al Abraaj’s move signals the Middle East’s growing interest in crypto as a hedge against inflation and financial uncertainties. For a food sector company to take this step in Bahrain, a nation striving to position itself as a tech-friendly hub, it highlights a significant shift in the region’s perspective on cryptocurrency.

This move could encourage more companies in the Gulf region to rethink their Treasury portfolios and gain exposure to Bitcoin and the crypto asset class. Earlier this week, Nasdaq-listed GD Culture Group (GDC) made a similar announcement by committing up to $300 million toward Bitcoin and the Donald Trump-inspired TRUMP (TRUMP) token, as reported by CNF.

On the other hand, Bitcoin is increasingly gaining prominence as an accepted asset class by lawmakers. This could speed up BTC’s inclusion in global financial ecosystem moving ahead.

Will More Companies Announce Bitcoin Adoption At Gulf Summit 2025

The announcement of BTC purchases by Bahrain-based Al Abraaj Restaurants Group comes just a time when the RWA GULF SUMMIT 2025 happened this week, as highlighted in our previous report. The summit focused on the future of RWA tokenization, highlighted regional growth trends in the Middle East, and discussed global market opportunities.

The GULF Summit 2025 convened prominent figures from regulated digital asset exchanges, pioneering RWA institutions, leading Middle Eastern banks, and asset management firms.

The event featured an impressive roster of participating institutions, including Emirates NBD, Qatar Financial Centre, OKX, Bybit, HashKey Group, BNB Chain, Ceffu, Plume, Pharos Labs, Plug and Play, Cypher Capital, and more.

Over time, the announcement from Al Abraaj Restaurants Group can create a snowball effect for BTC adoption in the Gulf region. Furthermore, apart from corporations, big companies have also started accepting Bitcoins

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ May 15, 2025 6:24 pm