The Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA) has used blockchain to increase the liquidity of local banks, reported by The Block.
The allocated funds will support lending to the real sector in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount was not disclosed, but it is known that last week the volume of such operations amounted to 50 billion riyals (~ $ 13.35 billion).
The department emphasized that the use of blockchain is part of its ongoing efforts to study and experiment with new technologies.
In 2019, SAMA announced the launch of the Aber project, a mutual digital currency with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, which will be “used in financial transactions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE through blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT).” It was assumed that in the absence of any technical obstacles, economic and legal requirements for future cases would be considered.
In 2018, SAMA signed a partnership agreement with Ripple. The terms of the agreement suggested that the country’s banks would use the xCurrent solution to improve the efficiency of domestic and cross-border payments.
Recall, the regulated cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret, the three leading banks UFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and SMBC, as well as a number of other organizations have joined forces to develop a digital settlement and clearing infrastructure in Japan.