Buying Crypto in Medina: What Works and What Doesn't

Crypto Saudi Arabia editorial team Data last checked: October 2026 ~11 min read

If you searched for "buy Bitcoin in Medina" you are probably one of three people: a resident of Medina or Yanbu planning a first purchase, a student at Taibah University or the Islamic University who heard about blockchain in a lecture, or a visitor from abroad wondering whether your exchange app works here. The short answer is the same for all three: Medina has no Bitcoin ATM, no crypto shop and no OTC desk, and everything that works, works from your phone, exactly as it does in Riyadh. But Medina is not simply a smaller copy of the capital. It has a real technology story, and it deserves to be told with dates.

We write this page with respect for what Medina is. We do not treat the Prophet's Mosque area as a marketplace, and we do not suggest anyone travel to Medina for crypto. We write about the people who live, work and study here, and about what genuinely works for them.

The reality: 1.41 million people and not one point of sale

The 2022 census puts the city at 1,411,599 residents, roughly 41.5% of them non-Saudi, while the Madinah region as a whole is 36.8% non-Saudi. That is a lower share than Riyadh or Mecca, but it still means hundreds of thousands of residents who think about sending money home, which is one of the most common reasons people in Medina end up asking about USDT.

The physical reality, however, is zero. No Bitcoin ATM has been verified in any Saudi city, and the 2019 report that checked the only two machines ever listed for the Kingdom (Jeddah and Jubail) found they did not exist. No SAMA-licensed money changer sells crypto, because SAMA has not licensed anyone to do so, and the 2018 Standing Committee statement (SAMA, the CMA, the Ministry of Finance and others) remains the official position: virtual currencies are not approved and nobody is licensed to deal in them. That does not make buying illegal for individuals; it makes it unregulated and unprotected locally. Our legal status page explains the distinction carefully.

The practical consequence: any "cash offer" you come across in Medina is either an unlicensed middleman or a scam. Our page on Bitcoin ATMs in Saudi Arabia tells the full story; what follows here is how people in Medina actually buy.

Taibah Valley: the Kingdom's first university blockchain lab

This is the fact that sets Medina apart from every other Saudi city. Taibah Valley is Taibah University's innovation company, founded in 2008 to bridge the university and the market. In November 2018 it announced, together with the New York firm Blocktech, the opening of the first blockchain development lab in the Madinah region, and in the same month it ran a cryptocurrency workshop with the NY Bitcoin Center. None of this was trading or an exchange; it was education and development, which is precisely the frame that was acceptable in the Kingdom then and still is.

The second step came in March 2021, when Taibah Valley signed a memorandum of understanding with Wa'ed, Saudi Aramco's entrepreneurship arm, to nurture 16 startups, five of them working in blockchain. Aramco putting its name on a programme that incubates blockchain companies in Medina is worth pausing on, especially since the same company denied reports that year that it was moving into Bitcoin mining.

Why does this matter to an ordinary buyer? Because it shows where the line sits in the Kingdom: blockchain as a technology is welcome in universities and Aramco programmes, while retail coin trading remains unregulated. You can study blockchain in Medina, but you will not find a Saudi-licensed exchange here to buy from. The two are different things, and no investment pitch that borrows the university's or Aramco's name should be allowed to blur them.

The visitor economy and the Haramain rail

In the first quarter of 2025 alone, 6,452,696 people visited Medina, 4,412,689 of them from outside the Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. That number shapes the city's economy: the hotels of the central area, transport, restaurants and the trade that orbits them. The Haramain high-speed rail connects Medina with King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah and Mecca in under three hours, so many workers move between the two holy cities during the seasons.

What does that have to do with crypto? Three things. First, the foreign visitor asking whether an exchange app works here: most global platforms work over the internet from anywhere and Saudi mobile coverage is among the best in the world (the CST puts internet penetration at 99.6%), but nobody in Medina will accept crypto as payment; the city runs on mada, cards and cash. Second, the official wallet for pilgrims is the Nusuk Wallet, launched by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in June 2024 with Saudi National Bank; it is a SAMA-compliant riyal wallet with no connection to cryptocurrency, and anyone promoting a "Nusuk coin" or "Hajj coin" is lying. Third, hospitality and transport workers, many of them expats, are the group that asks about crypto remittances, which we cover in the Yanbu section below. Our Hajj and Umrah page answers visitor questions in detail, and the Mecca page completes the picture.

It is worth noting that a 2025 Oxford Economics report suggested Mecca and Medina could one day host "special zones for Islamic fintech". A suggestion, not a decision, but it explains why Sharia questions stay closer to the surface here than anywhere else.

How you actually buy from Medina

The route is identical to any Saudi city, because all of it is online. You have two main paths, each with its own use. The first is a card purchase in US dollars on a global exchange. CEX.IO, for instance, has operated since 2013, does not list Saudi Arabia among its unsupported countries, and serves residents through the group company CEX OVRS LLC; you pay with Visa, Mastercard or Apple Pay, the minimum is 20 USD, and the published card fee range is 0.49% to 4.99% plus a service charge shown before you confirm. There is no riyal wallet, so your bank converts at its own rate and usually adds a foreign-transaction fee. Our full review has the details.

The second path is P2P in riyals on Binance or Bybit: you pick a seller, transfer from Al Rajhi, SNB or STC Pay, and the system releases the USDT. Binance officially lists urpay and Liv. KSA as payment methods in its SAR market and charges a flat 0.05 USDT per order on USDT pairs. P2P prices usually sit a little above the 3.75 peg, and that premium is the real cost. Our P2P guide explains how to avoid being cheated.

Pick the route by amount
A few hundred riyals for a first try? The card is easier. Thousands of riyals regularly? SAR P2P is cheaper over time. Very large sums belong with Gulf OTC desks, which also operate online.
Verify your identity from home
Passport or national ID plus a selfie. Expats in Medina and Yanbu: keep the passport ready, because acceptance of an Iqama alone is not documented on most platforms. Our Iqama KYC guide covers it.
Fund the account
Card or Apple Pay in dollars, or a riyal transfer to a P2P seller from an account in your own name. Never pay from someone else's account and never accept a payment from a third party.
Buy and check the network
If you buy USDT and plan to move it, confirm the network before withdrawing: TRC-20 is cheapest, ERC-20 is the most widely accepted. The wrong network loses the money.
Move what you are not trading to your own wallet
Keep only active trades on the exchange and move the rest to a wallet you control. Jarir, the nationwide chain, sells the Ledger Nano X at SAR 669 including VAT.

If you want the eight exchanges that serve Saudi residents compared on one table, that lives on our best exchanges page; we do not repeat it here because it does not change from city to city. And always remember that prices swing hard; never buy with money you will need within months.

A first purchase from MedinaCard or Apple Pay, verification with a passport or national ID, and the coins land in minutes. Start small.

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Yanbu: the industrial city and remittances

160 km west of Medina lies Yanbu, a city of a completely different character: 331,916 residents at the 2022 census, three refineries, petrochemical complexes, two ports and the terminus of the trans-Arabian pipelines, all under the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu since 1975, plus a growing dive-tourism trade on the Red Sea. The industrial workforce includes a large share of expats, which makes the most common question there not "should I invest in Bitcoin?" but "should I send my salary home through USDT instead of a bank transfer?".

The honest answer: you can, but it is not free the way it is advertised. A USDT remittance means buying it on P2P at a small premium over the peg, paying the network fee, and then the recipient selling it at home at a discount or with another fee. Compare the total with a transfer through stc bank, Enjaz or Western Union (SAR 15 for an online transfer according to its Saudi site). On some corridors crypto is cheaper and faster; on others it is not. And the biggest difference: a bank transfer can be traced and disputed, while USDT sent to the wrong address is gone. Our crypto remittance guide works the numbers for each country.

Yanbu, too, has no crypto ATM or office; the Royal Commission runs an industrial city, not a financial market. A Yanbu plant worker buys from the same app as an office employee in Riyadh.

Medina at a glance

Population (2022 census): 1,411,599 in the city; about 41.5% non-Saudi
Visitors: 6.45 million in Q1 2025, 4.41 million of them from abroad
Local blockchain: Taibah Valley lab (2018), Wa'ed MoU covering five startups (2021)
Universities: Taibah University (28 colleges), Islamic University (about 22,000 students)
Bitcoin ATMs / crypto offices: None verified, as everywhere in the Kingdom
Routes that work: Card or Apple Pay in USD; SAR P2P via bank or STC Pay
Neighbouring industrial city: Yanbu (331,916 residents), 160 km west

Scams and staying safe in Medina

Cities with many visitors attract a particular kind of fraud: "blessed investment" offers in WhatsApp groups, a "Hajj coin" that does not exist, or someone near the hotels offering USDT for cash at a better rate than the exchange. Trust none of it. In October 2023 the Public Prosecution charged 14 citizens and residents with promoting unlicensed digital currencies and routing victims' transfers to fictitious foreign companies, and the official 2019 warning stated that using the Kingdom's name, currency or emblem to market digital currencies would lead to legal action.

The simple rule: buy only inside a known platform, in an account in your name, with a transfer from your own account. Never hand cash to anyone, and never release USDT on P2P before you see the money in your banking app rather than in a screenshot. Turn on two-factor authentication on day one. Our scams page describes the common patterns, and the beginners guide starts from zero.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Bitcoin ATM or a crypto shop in Medina?

No. There is no verified Bitcoin ATM in any Saudi city and no licensed money changer that sells USDT for cash. The last serious check of Saudi Bitcoin ATMs (2019) found that the two machines listed for Jeddah and Jubail did not physically exist. Anyone offering you crypto for cash in Medina is operating outside any licence, and the sensible response is to walk away.

How do I buy USDT or Bitcoin from Medina?

The same way as from Riyadh or Jeddah: online. Either pay in US dollars with a card or Apple Pay on a global exchange such as CEX.IO, or pay in riyals through the P2P market on Binance or Bybit, where you transfer to a seller from your bank account or STC Pay. The route does not change with the city because everything happens inside the app.

What is Taibah Valley and what does it have to do with blockchain?

Taibah Valley is the innovation company of Taibah University, founded in 2008. In 2018 it opened the Madinah region's first blockchain development lab with the US firm Blocktech, ran a cryptocurrency workshop with the NY Bitcoin Center, and in March 2021 signed an MoU with Aramco's entrepreneurship arm Wa'ed to nurture 16 startups, five of them in blockchain. The lab's current status is unconfirmed because its website is in a relaunch phase.

Can a pilgrim or visitor use an exchange app in Medina?

Usually yes. Most global platforms work over the internet from anywhere and mobile coverage in Medina is excellent. The important part is to have finished identity verification at home before you travel, and to remember that no wallet or exchange will pay for your hotel or transport here: payments in Medina run on mada, cards and cash. Do not carry large balances on your phone and do not rely on crypto for trip expenses.

I work in Yanbu. Should I send money home with crypto?

You can legally send USDT to a wallet in your home country and sell it there, but add up the full cost: the seller's premium on P2P, the network fee, then the selling fee or discount at the other end, and compare it with a bank transfer, the stc bank app or Western Union. The difference is often smaller than advertised, and a wrong address or network cannot be reversed. Our remittance guide does the maths corridor by corridor.

Is crypto trading halal? Who do I ask in Medina?

We do not issue rulings. Scholars differ: Sheikh Abdullah Al-Manea said in 2018 that he considers it impermissible, while other scholars permit it under conditions such as no riba, no gharar and no leverage. Medina is home to the Islamic University and Taibah University with their Sharia faculties, and the right move is to ask a scholar you trust directly. Our halal guide collects the positions without taking sides.

Sources and references

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Crypto in Medina: what actually works