Saudi Arabia, UAE Announce Pilot Of Cryptocurrency Project Aber

Announcements, Blockchain, News | January 30, 2019 By:

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) have announced more details of their joint digital currency project.

Dubbed “Aber,” the project, which was first announced in December 2017, is aimed at using blockchain technology to create a cryptocurrency that would help facilitate cross-border payments between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In a joint statement, SAMA and the UAE Central Bank said that they will be launching a pilot project to study the practical application of the cryptocurrency and determine its impact on the reduction of remittance costs. The pilot will also allow them to consider using the cryptocurrency as an additional reserve system for the domestic central payments settlement system in case of their disruption for any reason.

“As for the mechanism agreed upon by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and the UAE Central Bank for implementation of the ‘Aber’ project, the concentration in the initial stages will be on technical aspects,” they said. “The use of the currency will be restricted to a limited number of banks in each state. In case that no technical obstacles are encountered, economic and legal requirements for future uses will be considered.”

SAMA and UAECB said that they do not only aspire to be the frontrunners in the application of blockchain technologies, but also in their adoption, development and delivery.