Share this article
Leading Middle East Music Streaming Service 'Anghami' Embraces Bitcoin
Anghami's streaming platform will accept bitcoin subscription fees and incorporate the currency into its 'freemium' model.
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 10:31 a.m. Published Mar 10, 2014, 11:21 a.m.
Anghami, the leading mobile music streaming platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has announced that it will start accepting bitcoin payments.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
No te pierdas otra historia.Suscríbete al boletín de Crypto Daybook Americas hoy. Ver todos los boletines
says it is the first music service in the world to accept bitcoin, although a number of smaller music services have announced plans to accept the currency over the past couple of months.
For its part Anghami will start accepting bitcoin subscription fees and incorporate bitcoin into its 'freemium' model. The service is available on all major mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry, as well as Nokia's Asha and Symbian platforms, which are big in the emerging markets.
Alternative payment methods
In addition to bitcoin, Anghami is also using prepaid cards, telecom billing and PayPal, so it is no stranger to the world of alternative payments. However, the company points out that bitcoin offers the lowest transaction fee of all the methods currently available. It has chosen BitPay as its payment processor.
"Bitcoin is still in its early days – especially in the Middle East. But just like everyone was sceptical that streaming [was] the future of music, we believe that Bitcoin is the future of payments," Anghami's co-founder Elie Habib said. "Moreover, Anghami being a mobile service, paying via your digital bitcoin wallet is a no brainer."
Fellow co-founder Eddy Maroun pointed out that bitcoin is getting "major backing" from entrepreneurs and technologists worldwide. He added that Anghami is sending a message that it believes in bitcoin and that it wants its user base of digital enthusiasts to get on board.
Anghami launched in late 2012 and so far it has managed to attract four million users, mostly from the MENA region.
Bitcoin and digital media – a match made in heaven?
Although bitcoin has received a fair amount of coverage lately, the focus still appears to be on wild price fluctuations, turbulence in the bitcoin ecosystem and various sideshows like the events which unfolded in California last week.
While the attention is focused on headline grabbing stuff, the industry is starting to look seriously into the potential of digital currencies in the content industry. Earlier this year PriceWaterhouseCoopers published a very bullish report on bitcoin's prospects in the entertainment industry.
The Chicago Sun Tribune's bitcoin pseudo-paywall has also attracted a lot of attention from publishers worldwide. In essence, bitcoin's low transaction fees and potential for micropayments have the potential to change the way content is monetized.
Disclaimer: CoinDesk founder Shakil Khan is an investor in BitPay.
Más para ti
Lo que debes saber:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
Más para ti
Ether Digital Asset Treasury Companies Outpace Peers as Crypto Tailwinds Build: B. Riley
The bank said ETH-focused DATCOs have outperformed since Nov. 20 as risk appetite improved, mNAVs ticked up and staking-led strategies gained traction.
Lo que debes saber:
- Crypto markets are up ~10% since Nov. 20, with B. Riley citing ECB-driven dollar-diversification talk and expected rate cuts as boosts to risk sentiment.
- ETH treasury companies led DATCOs, rising ~28% on average versus ~20% for BTC treasuries and ~12% for SOL treasuries.
- B. Riley said BitMine and SharpLink offer the clearest staking/restaking exposure among its coverage, and pointed to FG Nexus, Sequans and Kindly MD as discounted value plays relative to mNAV.
Top Stories
