The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is currently studying Central Bank Digital Currency, and digital bank licensing.
Qatar Central Bank intends to digitalize the majority of its products, including researching, creating, and perhaps implementing a CBDC. The institution’s other instructions include the issuance of digital bank licenses.
Qatar Enters the Crypto CBDC Race
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 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.”
https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/16/03/2022/qcb-studying-digital-currencies-and-digital-banking-official
The executive also stated that, like many other central banks, 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 doing study 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.
Crypto Across the World
Aside from China, which has been among the world leaders in CBDC research with several real-life experiments, a slew of 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 digital currency.
