Qatar plans to enter the CBDC competition and begin granting digital bank licenses, according to the QCB’s FinTech sector head.
Qatar’s central bank intends to digitalize the majority of its products, including the research, development, and deployment of a CBDC. The institution’s other instructions include the issuance of digital bank licenses.
Alanood Abdullah Al Muftah, QCB’s Head of FinTech, spoke to The Peninsula at the 8th Doha Islamic Finance Conference on the organization’s new and digitalized approach. The bank has begun to examine several projects, the details of which will become clear in the coming months.
“We’re trying to study the different aspects and verticals of fintech. We’re trying to set our direction. Each central bank should study digital banks, considering their growing significance in the global market.”
The executive also stated that the bank, like many other central banks, intends to go down the central bank digital currency path.
However, according to Al Muftah, the QCB is still a long way from being ready to offer such a product. Currently, the bank is doing research to determine if and how a CBDC may affect the local monetary landscape.
During the same conference, Narayanan Srinivasan, COO and Digital Officer of Dukhan Bank, stated that his company plans to launch a digital bank in Qatar. They also want to use blockchain technology for some payment services.
Aside from China, which has been among the world leaders in CBDC development with many documented real-life experiments, plenty of other countries have followed suit in recent years.
Jamaica’s central bank has stated that it intends to airdrop $16 worth of CBDC to the first 100,000 residents who create a wallet by April 1st.
Canada’s central bank collaborated with MIT to study the benefits and drawbacks of such a product, while India anticipates its CBDC to be available by the end of 2022.
The United States has been at the tail end of the race. For years, the country has been undecided over whether or not to establish a CBDC. Recently, the Federal Reserve weighed in on the benefits and drawbacks of a central bank digital currency.
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