Startup Profile

• Founded: 2022

• Core Solution: A broker-dealer providing over-the-counter (OTC) trading and liquidity, investment products, asset & wealth management services for professional clients.

• Markets Served: MENA, with regional and global expansion underway

What is ARP Digital?

ARP Digital is a digital-asset financial services firm regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), focused on institutional and accredited clients. Its work addresses two core needs for banks and large investors: compliant access to digital-asset exposure and reliable settlement that fits within existing financial operations. As ARP Digital Partner Yusuf Fakhro explains, “Our goal isn’t ‘crypto for crypto’s sake’—it’s building regulated rails that let banks and professional investors access digital-asset exposure and settle value in a way that fits existing compliance and operations. We focus on making digital assets usable inside the financial system.”

Founded in Bahrain, ARP Digital is the only locally founded Bahraini player in this segment that is now expanding regionally and globally. ARP Digital offerings include: 

• Over-the-counter (OTC) trading and liquidity: Allows large buyers and sellers to trade digital assets directly with ARP instead of using public exchanges, with ARP managing the entire process, from agreeing on a price to completing the trade and moving the money.

• Structured investment products: Offers investment products that give exposure to digital assets under clearly defined terms, including how returns are calculated and what happens if prices rise or fall, designed for accredited investors, family offices, and institutions that prefer predictable outcomes over active trading.

• Settlement and payment rails: Builds tools that help businesses move money across countries and between traditional bank accounts and digital dollars (stablecoins tied to currencies like the US dollar), enabling merchants to accept digital payments while still receiving funds in a regular bank account.

• Digital wealth management: The only Bahrain-based provider offering digital wealth management focused on growing clients’ wealth through a disciplined, risk-managed approach to digital-asset exposure within a regulated, institution-grade framework.

How was ARP Digital Built?

ARP Digital was created to address a specific gap in the region’s digital-asset market: institutional investors and banks were seeking exposure and settlement services, but many available options did not meet institutional standards for onboarding, reporting, controls, and operational reliability. From the outset, the company focused on serving professional counterparties, prioritizing process and compliance over scale or consumer reach.

Because institutional clients are measured on onboarding speed, documentation quality, reporting, and reliable settlement, ARP Digital built its operating model around governance and repeatable controls from an early stage. Anchoring this approach within a defined regulatory perimeter under the CBB allowed product design and operations to align with a recognized supervisory framework rather than being added later.

How did ARP Digital Grow?

ARP Digital’s growth has followed two complementary routes: bank-led investment distribution and regulated settlement infrastructure.

The first route is bank-led distribution of digital-asset exposure through regulated investment products. This is illustrated by the NBB’s October 2024 launch of the GCC’s first Bitcoin-linked structured investment developed with ARP Digital. The importance of this route lies less in the individual product and more in the model it represents, embedding digital-asset exposure within bank-issued instruments governed by suitability and risk controls. ARP Digital has supported this channel by strengthening the institutional capabilities behind product structuring and liquidity, including through partnerships with DV Trading and Centaur Markets.

Beyond product distribution, ARP Digital’s performance helped strengthen its credibility with professional investors. In 2025, the firm managed one of the best-performing funds globally, outperforming the majority of hedge funds over the same period.

The second route is regulated settlement infrastructure connecting digital assets with traditional banking rails. Through tools such as ARP Gate and its Global Processing Service, ARP Digital enables digital-value settlement while ensuring funds ultimately settle into conventional bank accounts. This route is reflected in cross-border settlement partnerships announced with the BBK and stc Pay in October 2025, positioning ARP Digital as a regulated settlement layer that banks and payment firms can integrate into existing cross-border and treasury workflows.

How Did Regulations and the Ecosystem Enable ARP Digital’s Growth?

For a regulated digital-asset firm, ecosystem support is defined by whether clear rules, licensing pathways, and credible counterparties exist to move from concept to live products. In Bahrain, these conditions are practical and well defined. The CBB provides a defined regulatory framework for crypto-asset services, giving banks and institutional players a clear perimeter within which to engage new counterparties and introduce digital-asset products. 

This regulatory environment also reduces the gap between product design and institutional adoption. Bank partners and institutional clients require assurance that onboarding, controls, reporting, and settlement operate within a recognised supervisory framework before committing capital or integrating new services. Bahrain provided the regulated foundation to build an institutional-grade model from day one. ARP Digital is now taking that CBB-supervised discipline beyond the kingdom, expanding regionally and globally while staying anchored to bank-compatible products and settlement.

Beyond regulation, the ecosystem also enabled international exposure, through participation and showcasing at regional events supported by Tamkeen, connecting regulated digital-asset firms to institutional partners and regional markets.

ARP Digital has focused on embedding institutional-grade digital-asset services within established financial channels. From the outset, the founders recognized the importance of securing a regulated footing under the Central Bank of Bahrain, providing banks and professional counterparties with a clear framework for engagement. This enabled digital-asset exposure to be offered through bank-compatible investment products, while parallel efforts on settlement infrastructure aimed to integrate cross-border digital value movement into existing banking processes. As these channels scale, this approach positions ARP Digital to translate regulatory alignment and institutional integration into sustained growth over time.