In a watershed moment for Gulf capital markets, Al Abraaj Restaurants Group (trading on the Bahrain Bourse as ABRAAJ) disclosed on Wednesday that it has transferred part of its corporate treasury into Bitcoin, becoming the first publicly listed company anywhere in the Middle East to hold the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet.
Management emphasised its determination to satisfy Islamic-finance mandates. Al Abraaj described BTC as “an innovation that can be delivered in a manner consistent with Sharia principles,” and said the partnership with 10X Capital is intended to “open Bitcoin access to investors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and beyond” through the purchase of ABRAAJ shares on the Bahrain Bourse.
The decision places the 38-year-old restaurant group in rarefied company. MicroStrategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) and Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) sparked global headlines when they began converting excess cash into Bitcoin, while Tokyo-listed Metaplanet (TSE: 3350) adopted the same playbook this spring 2024. Their stocks have been among 2024’s top performers, and Al Abraaj is betting the market will reward a similar conviction trade in the Gulf.
While the size of Al Abraaj’s initial allocation was not disclosed, management signalled that further purchases are likely as it seeks to align treasury reserves with “a long-term, hard-cap monetary asset.”
At press time, BTC traded at $102,732.
