The Central Bank of Qatar launched the first phase of the CBDC project

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has completed the infrastructure for the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project and launched the first phase of a pilot project. QCB deals with the settlement of large payments between large domestic and international banks.

Few details of the project have been released. The state news agency said it will focus on distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, increasing currency exchange and trading with securities. The project will last until October.

QCB began studying CBCC technology in March 2022 and confirmed the launch of a project in June of the same year. According to a press report, QCB Governor Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani said at the Qatar Economic Forum in May, “We are at the foundation stage and will evaluate the pros and cons of issuing a CBDC.”

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Meeting with neighbors

Neighboring United Arab Emirates (UAE) was a founding member of the Ambridge project along with China, Hong Kong and Thailand. Used mBridge to transfer remittances to India and bulk transfers between mBridge project members. The UAE is involved in the CBC verification concept with Saudi Arabia called Project Aber, which was completed in 2020.

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A day before the unveiling of the CBDC project, QCB launched a new fintech sandbox. The Express Sandbox offers “reduced testing time, faster testing cycles and a streamlined overall evaluation process” to qualified participants. Like the new sandbox, the CBCC project is described as part of the official national development strategy, although none of the strategies explicitly mention CBDC.

Crypto currency upset

Qatar's Financial Center Regulatory Authority – the country's business development authority – has banned virtual asset services from operating there in 2020. The Financial Action Task Force criticized Qatar for not enforcing that ban by 2023 and for “lacking an understanding of more complex forms of currency.” Human Trafficking and Terrorist Financing.

Rumors circulated in the crypto community in March that the Qatar Investment Authority would invest heavily in Bitcoin (BTC), but there are doubts about that possibility.

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