Saudi Arabia Central Bank Hires Crypto & CBDC Expert

Saudi Arabia Central Bank Hires Crypto & CBDC Expert
Adoption & Regulations
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Saudi Arabia is warming to the cryptocurrency potential after hiring the old accenture md to focus on adopting crypto.

The Saudi central bank has a former general manager to emphasize, mohsen alzahrani, to lead the bank's efforts in cryptography and cbdc, said Bloomberg. Alzahrani has been working for the bank since July, based on her profile.

AlZahrani previously worked for the central bank from March 2015 to October 2018, where he ran the innovation hub with initiatives including cryptocurrency and CBDC.

According to several sources from Bloomberg, Riyadh takes a new interest in digital assets and communicates with the largest companies in space, examining the position of the United Arab Emirates towards cryptography.

One of the joint efforts of countries in the area of digital assets is an initiative of the CBDC called Aber.

Announced in 2019, is a "joint digital currency and distributed ledger" project, a dual issuance of the leading digital currency central bank. Two central banks – the central bank of the United Arab Emirates (Cbuae) and the central bank of Saudi Arabia (sama) – and six commercial banks took part in the project.

A study published by both banks after the end of the pilot program found that the project was successful.

“The project reached its main goals, that involve the use of a new DLT-based solution for real-time cross-border interbank payments between commercial banks without having to maintain and reconcile Nostro accounts. This should make it possible to remedy the inefficiencies and costs inherent in existing cross-border payment mechanisms,' states the study.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a promising yet untapped location for crypto companies, as it is the largest economy in the Middle East. Some giants like Crypto have begun building relationships with the area and are hiring local teams.

Meanwhile, a neighbouring country, the UAE, has emerged as a commercial and crypto hub recently. 

Meanwhile, a neighbouring country, the UAE, has emerged as a commercial and crypto hub recently. Several companies, including , ftx, and , have obtained site licences in the county. BINANCE even relocated its head office to Dubai.

As another sign that the Emirates is taking digital assets seriously, Dubai’s digital asset regulatory authority published regulatory guidelines outlining rules of marketing, advertising, and promotion of cryptocurrency in August.

'It is imperative that users have precise and complete details to make an informed decision about their exposure goes. This will go a long way to ensuring that users have the information they need to make their decisions," said Alagh, Founder of KARM Legal Advisors, gave an overview of the guidelines.