Qatar is all set to enter the CBDC competition and issue digital bank licenses. Qatar’s central bank reportedly wanted to digitalize most of its products, including researching, creating, and perhaps implementing a CBDC.
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 started looking into a number of projects, which will become apparent in the coming months.
“We’re attempting to research the many facets and verticals of fintech.” We’re attempting to figure out where we want to go. Given the rising importance of digital banks in the global economy, each central bank should investigate them.”
Like many other central banks, the executive also stated that the bank intends to go down the central bank digital currency path.
Al Muftah, on the other hand, believes the QCB is still a long way from being ready to market such a product. Currently, the bank is studying to see if and how a CBDC may affect the local monetary scene.
During the same conference, Dukhan Bank’s COO and Digital Officer, Narayanan Srinivasan, stated that his bank plans to open a digital bank in Qatar. They also want to use blockchain technology for some payment services.
CBDC in Different Parts of the World:
Aside from China, which has been among the world leaders in CBDC research with several real-life experiments, many other countries have followed suit in recent years.
The central bank of Jamaica just announced that the first 100,000 residents who create a wallet by April 1st would get $16 worth of CBDC. The Bank of Canada collaborated with MIT to study the benefits and drawbacks of such a product, and India plans to launch a CBDC by the end of 2022.
The United States was, in fact, at the tail end of the race. For years, the country has been undecided over whether or not to start a CBDC. The Federal Reserve has commented on the benefits and drawbacks of a central bank’s digital currency.
