As it seems, Middle East is doing its best after jumping on a cryptocurrency bandwagon. Recently, it was announced that the first company in the region received a Dubai government-issued license for trading and storing cyber assets.
Now, the news is that the central bank of Saudi Arabia signs a blockchain deal with the third most influential crypto-coin issuer Ripple.
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Saudi Arabia aspiring to be on top of the crypto realm
Whilst governments all over the world are trying to ramp up scrutiny over virtual money, Saudi Arabia decided to approach the issue from a different angle.
The country’s central bank, according to Reuters, has signed a deal with Ripple, based in the US, in order to assist Saudi banks in the kingdom arrangement of payments with the help of blockchain. Currently, the regional regulators are starting to examine the novel forms of this tech trend.
On February 14, Ripple announced that the country’s central bank is going to launch the first ever experimental program of this type. Therefore, Saudi banks will be able to utilize Ripple’s software to arrange payments remitted into and out of the kingdom immediately.
It means that Saudi Arabian banks will get the opportunity to carry out much speedy, less expensive and more transparent trans-border operations. Moreover, the central bank is ready to assist all the banks in the country, which are interested in the project, in learning how to deal with the blockchain.
Has the Middle East always been as friendly to cryptos as now?
Initially, as Reuters emphasizes, the majority of regulators in the Gulf was quite incredulous towards financial technologies. Last year Saudi Arabia’s central bank even cautioned people against selling and buying BTC as long as it was not in the frames of bank’s regulation.
On the other hand, Bahrain, which adores been at the forefront of financial development, has been examining the utilization of cyber money and later controllers in some significant Gulf countries followed its lead.
Since that time, the attitude towards cryptos in the region obtained some positive traits. Two months ago UAE central bank governor Mubarak Rashed al-Mansouri announced that the country’s central bank is collaborating with the Saudi central bank so as to emit a virtual currency. According to his words, it is expected that this coin would be accepted in trans-border operations between Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Furthermore, this week Abu Dhabi’s global financial center notified about its intention to develop rules for cyber currencies trading burses.
