Qatar has launched the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project.

Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has launched the first phase of the experimental initiative by completing the infrastructure of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. The QCB will examine large-scale payments between various local and foreign institutions.

Few details about the project have been released publicly. Priorities include distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, increasing liquidity and improving securities transactions, according to the state news agency. It was stated that the project will last until October.

QCB said it would launch a project in June this year after starting research on #CBDC technology in March 2022. “We are at the foundational stage and evaluating the pros and cons of issuing a central bank digital currency,” QCB governor Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saud al-Thani said at the Qatar Economic Forum in May, according to press reports. said.

Neighboring United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with China, Hong Kong and Thailand, was a founding member of the mBridge initiative. Remittance payments to India and wholesale transfers between mBridge project members have already been sent using mBridge. The #UAE has also collaborated with Saudi Arabia on a CBDC proof-of-concept project called Project Aber, which runs until 2020.

A day before the CBDC project was announced, QCB opened a new fintech sandbox. For qualified participants, Express Sandbox offers “reduced testing time, rapid testing cycles, and a simplified overall evaluation process.” Although CBDC is not specifically addressed in any of the official national development strategies, the #CBDC initiative was introduced as part of the new #sandbox .
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