UAE and Saudi Arabia Have Launched a Pilot Cryptocurrency for Testing Cross-Border Payments
The Emirates News Agency reported that the Saudi Arabia and UAE together have launched a pilot cryptocurrency to test cross-border payments. On Saturday, the Executive Committee of Saudi-Emirati Coordination Council conducted a meeting wherein they discussed the Saudi-Emirati cryptocurrency as one of the seven initiatives to be implemented in both the countries.
Both the countries evaluated different strategies to be implemented and the cooperation in implementing the blockchain technology. The Council said that they plan to use the cryptocurrency for easy cross border transfers between the local and the central banks of the two countries.
The Executive Committee said that before the market roll-out they want to pilot test the use and benefits of the cryptocurrency as well the underpinning blockchain technology. An excerpt from the announcement of the executive committee reads:
“The virtual currency relies on the use of a distributed database between the central banks and the participating banks from both sides. It seeks to safeguard customer interests, set technology standards and assess cybersecurity risks. The project will also determine the impact of a central currency on monetary policies.”
Note that the Saudi-Emirati cryptocurrency shall be most likely used by private financial institutions and won’t be available for retail use. With the crypto and blockchain industry getting more prominence in global economy, the UAE and Middle East has kept its door open to adapt to this new revolution.
Back in December 2017, Dubai announced to become the world’s first blockchain city by shifting its entire government administration on the decentralized technology. The announcement said that the UAE wants all bill payments, visa applications and license renewals to be handled via blockchain technology, in order to help reduce costs, the number of documents, bureaucracy, while also increasing efficiency.
Last month in December 2018, UAE’s securities watchdog - Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) - announced to recognize ICOs as securities.