Egypt's First Bitcoin Exchange Market Takes off Later This Month

According to a report by Reuters, Egypt's first bitcoin exchange market will begin operating later this month, effectively enabling Egyptians to buy and sell the world's most-traded cryptocurrency in Egyptian pounds for the first time. The current market value of bitcoin is soaring at $4,400, equivalent to EGP 78 thousand.

"Cryptoassets are happening whether the Egyptian government joins in or not. And by not joining they're missing out on a very big market. Currently Bitcoin is about a $70 billion market," Bitcoin Egypt's founder Amr Khalil tells Reuters, adding that the exchange has received 300 pre-registrations ahead of its planned launch later this month.

Bitcoin Egypt is a platform connecting Egyptians to the Bitcoin trading market, launched by Amr Khalil and cofounder Omar AbdelRasoul, according to Reuters.

Bitcoin is a world-wide cryptocurrency which allows peer-to-peer transactions unregulated nor monitored by central banks. Bitcoin miners and traders in Egypt number in thousands, they however are very secretive about their activities out of fear of government crackdown, as is the case in many countries around the world.

Photo: A computer in Cairo mines Ethereum, a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency.