RAKBANK Breaks New Ground: UAE Customers Can Now Trade Bitcoin & Crypto Directly

Another bank caves—RAKBANK just flipped the switch on crypto trading. Because nothing says 'modern finance' like letting customers YOLO into volatile digital assets between mortgage payments.

No more offshore exchanges or shady OTC desks. The UAE's banking sector is finally playing catch-up with its own crypto-free zones. Guess those compliance teams got tired of saying 'no.'

Bullish signal or desperate bid for relevance? Either way, the retail money firehose just got a new nozzle. Watch those deposit outflows reverse overnight—until the next 30% Bitcoin correction, anyway.

Will Bitcoin Rally After UAE’s RAKBANK Move?

RAKBANK is one of the oldest lenders in the UAE. The decision marks the first instance of a conventional bank in the UAE offering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to clients. The move is another milestone for the UAE’s ambitions of becoming a global crypto hub. The country has made substantial progress in accepting cryptocurrencies as a legitimate investment. The UAE is one of the few leading the global crypto narrative.

Bitcoin (BTC) has seen incredible adoption over the last few years. The US SEC’s decision to approve 11 spot BTC ETFs in 2024 was another major milestone for the asset. The ETFs allowed big financial institutions to step into the crypto landscape. BTC’s adoption curve is expected to keep rising over the coming years.

RAKBANK’s move to offer bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets to its clients could lead to more people investing their money in the growing asset class. BTC climbed to a peak of $122,838 earlier this month, driven by high ETF inflows. The pattern could continue as more people are exposed to the original cryptocurrency.

According to CoinGecko’s BTC data, its price has seen no change in the last 24 hours, but is up in the other time frames. The asset has rallied 0.5% in the weekly charts, 1.8% in the 14-day charts, 10.4% in the monthly charts, and 71% since July 2024.

The asset currently faces resistance at the $119,000 level. Breaching $120,000 could push BTC to a new all-time high.