Dubai-based bitcoin startup BitOasis has completed its first funding round with the help of Wamda Capital, an investment firm that focuses on innovative tech firms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

According to today’s announcement, the undisclosed sum was raised from angel investors in New York and Dubai, as well as several venture capital firms; Wamda Capital, Digital Currency Group, a New York-based blockchain & bitcoin investment firm; Samih Toukan, Chairman of tech-focused venture capital firm Jabbar Group, Middle Eastern online payments firm Payfort.

The newly acquired funding will allow BitOasis to expands its presence in MENA territories and add additional staff, “Dubai is the world’s emerging markets capital for trade and movement of goods, people and capital, and we want to be right at the center of that” said Ola Doudin, CEO and co-founder of BitOasis.

Established in 2015, BitOasis has been working on bringing the benefits of blockchain-based payment systems to the MENA region with its bitcoin exchange platform and mobile wallet, which is currently available on the iPhone and iPad. Doudin’s main goal is to make BitOasis the “largest digital currency exchange and payments infrastructure platform in the Middle East and North Africa.”

At this time, the BitOasis exchange is open to users of UAE, KSA, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. The mobile wallet is open to users in the MENA region, as well as users in Asia.

BitOasis is also a founding member of the Dubai-based Global Blockchain Council, a 32-member organization exploring the impact of blockchain technology and digital currencies on the region.

Ola Doudin will be speaking at Keynote 2016, Dubai’s upcoming fintech conference that features some of the biggest names in the digital currency space.

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