Rain Management named Talal Al Zain to its board on December 29, 20211. The Bahrain exchange's own release named him "the newest board member." It credited him with "35 years of experience in banking and financial services internationally". Unlock Blockchain, a crypto outlet, confirmed the move on January 7, 2022. Its report added detail Rain's release had left out2.
10 board appointments on the record in 2021
Board appointments CryptoLately has verified, by year
- 2021: 10
- 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2020 | 10 |
| 2021 | 10 |
| 2022 | 4 |
| 2023 | 4 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| 2025 | 20 |
Stablecoins & Payments led board appointments in 2021, with two
Board appointments CryptoLately has verified in 2021, by the sector of the company
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Stablecoins & Payments | 2 |
| Capital Markets & Treasury | 1 |
| Institutional Custody & Asset Management | 1 |
| DeFi Protocols | 1 |
| Bitcoin & Mining | 1 |
| Trading Venues & Brokerage | 1 |
The move
Al Zain said the seat fit a company he rated highly. “It is an honor and a privilege to join the board of Rain Management,” he said. “The company is leading the way in cryptocurrency in the region, and I believe will be able to add value in the exciting next steps of the company.”1 Rain's release called his role advisory. The release said Al Zain would be “advising the company in decision-making to bring forward a trusted platform to the region”.
Unlock Blockchain listed the jobs behind Al Zain's resume, starting with his time as chief executive of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, before he moved to the same title at PineBridge Investments Middle East2. Before Mumtalakat, Al Zain spent 18 years at Investcorp. He worked there as managing director and co-head of placement and relationship management, Unlock Blockchain reported. Al Zain also co-founded Jisr Capital, a Bahrain investment firm.
Rain before and after the appointment
Four co-founders started Rain Financial Inc. in 2017: Abdullah Almoaiqel, AJ Nelson, Joseph Dallago and Yehia Badawy1. Its Bahrain arm, Rain Management W.L.L., became the first licensed crypto-asset service provider in the Middle East in 2019. The license came from the Central Bank of Bahrain. By the time Al Zain joined, the company ran arms in Bahrain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, its release said. The release described Rain's mission as bringing "a trusted platform" to current and future customers in the region.
What came next
Rain Financial bought a financial media company, Digital Ma'arefa, in 2026, a little over four years after Al Zain joined the board. The deal closed on March 30, 2026, IntArabi reported3. Digital Ma'arefa ran several newsletters, including The Finance Memo and Crypto Memo. Those newsletters had built a combined audience of more than one million followers over five years, IntArabi reported. Digital Ma'arefa's three co-founders joined Rain as part of the deal, and Rain named one of them, Abdullah Mashat, managing director over its regional growth. The deal pushed Rain further into financial media and regulated crypto adoption across the Middle East and North Africa, a step past the board seat Al Zain had taken in December 2021.
Sources
- Zawya, "Rain Management announces businessman Talal Al Zain as newest board member," Zawya, Dec. 29, 2021, https://web.archive.org/web/20220517141811/https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/rain-management-announces-businessman-talal-al-zain-as-newest-board-member-m6fw7rs7
- ND News Desk, "Rain crypto exchange appoints new board member," Unlock Blockchain, Jan. 7, 2022, https://www.unlock-bc.com/83394/rain-crypto-exchange-appoints-new-board-member/
- IntArabi, "Bahrain's Rain Expands into Financial Media with Acquisition of Digital Ma'arefa," IntArabi, Apr. 28, 2026, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMisAFBVV95cUxOVWVqVlZleTI0enhPQTJwbndwZGVzYXNCUV9hdTRGLXNsM01CakU2N09fVjJNRG1ObjdodDBjSm85Mk5paUtFcXJHdUg5dkRTNWRna003dkZjV0F2b04tV1Q5VXhEX2dISnUxcHJDckU3YndQeWFKbXJVM09JMVg1YTVacGpDQjBnNldLUjBqbmMyZXlSVDZpTUFWZE9MdFdtLW9yaHdZZ09DQUU2d1RSUQ