Reportedly planned only for inter-bank transactions between two countries
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have announced plans to issue a cryptocurrency for use in cross-border transactions. This, despite the fact that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has effectively banned digital currencies in the Middle Eastern country.
The new digital currency, which will be based on blockchain technology, will reportedly only be used for inter-bank transactions between the two countries, which share a border in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, and not for customer use. No launch date has been announced.
“This is probably the first time ever that we witness the cooperation of monetary authorities from different countries on this topic. We hope this achievement will foster similar collaboration in our region,” UAE Central Bank Governor Mubarak Rashid al-Mansouri said earlier this week during the Arab #FinTex Symposium on Blockchain & Financial Inclusion in Abu Dhabi, a meeting on global banking standards and regulation for the Arab region, according to Gulf News.
Al-Mansouri noted this is “just a study” and that they “have not gone deeper into it.”
However, experts are skeptical about the plan.
“This looks like a lazy public relations initiative,” Dr. Alex Coman, a researcher at the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship in Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, told The Media Line Thursday. “Why not have the entire Arab League join in on this currency? That way you would have a massive body of countries doing business with one another.
