Licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) as a digital asset exchange, ATME is ready to issue Shariah tokens to allow its clients to raise capital from investors – but an important key hurdle has to be overcome, CEO Alex Lola explained to IFN Investor.
Stating that Shariah certification is always the client’s responsibility, Alex said a Murabahah-based arbitrage tokenized fund is slated to be offered by May 2025. “ATME is set up as a neutral exchange, clients decide if they want to go the extra mile of Shariah compliance.”
The upcoming Islamic offering is from an EU-regulated asset management firm specializing in high-frequency arbitrage strategies, handling over 20,000 trades daily. Alex said this arbitrage operator is also CBB-licensed and the Shariah fund tokens will have a US$10,000 entry for qualified investors.
In contrast, citing the example of an aircraft leasing project that will also be launched soon on ATME, Alex said: “The aircraft is insured, but the insurance company is not Shariah compliant. We have been advised this could mean the product offering can then not be Shariah compliant.”
Given this potential ambiguity, Alex said some would place less emphasis on this aspect as the client’s main focus would be on raising enough capital for operational needs. “Even in this part of the world, conventional investments are of a bigger size than Shariah options.”
Drawing its name from “access tokenization, Middle East”, ATME is an alternative to bank financing and a more cost-effective capital-raising process compared to issuing bonds – as the tokenized debt can be for shorter periods such as three months.
Also, Bahraini regulation defines each token as a legally binding contract backed by a real-world asset. Still citing the aircraft example, Alex said: “The tokens represent equity where the investor owns physical assets. So even if the airline were to go bankrupt it, an investor can go to court and claim ownership rights with this token.”
The ATME token also represents a profit-sharing aspect of the offeror’s operations, explained Alex.
Launched in October 2024, ATME launched its initial token offering of 1kg gold bars on the 20th February 2025 from Abu Dhabi-registered Multi Met Trading. “We don’t have a Shariah certificate for the gold offering, although we can get it technically. It is up to the client,” said Alex.
In the pipeline for launches in April and May 2025 are an Airbus A320 aircraft leasing token from an Egyptian airline with a projected 19% return and the Shariah arbitrage fund offering targeting a 33% return, plus two real estate projects, from Dubai and the UK.
