UAE, Saudi Arabian central banks release report on Project Aber CBDC trial

CRYPTONAIRE LYWEEK

CRYPTO investment journal

UAE, Saudi Arabian central banks release report on Project Aber CBDC trial

Central banks from two of the most powerful economies in the Middle East released a report today on a yearlong joint central bank digital currency (CBDC) project — and results speak glowingly of blockchain technology.

First announced in January of 2019, Project Aber was a joint effort between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to establish a “proof of concept” designed to “contribute in the body of knowledge in CBDC and DLT technologies.”

The combined effort of two central banks in such a study is among the first of its kind. To this end, the report notes that the choice of name in “Aber” spoke to the core mission of the project:

“The name Aber was selected because, as the Arabic word, for “crossing boundaries”, it both captures the cross-border nature of the project as well as our hope that it would also cross boundaries in terms of the use of the technology.”

Broken into three distinct phases that progressively expanded the scope of the trial to six different commercial banks, the report notes that the project used a digital currency backed with real money in order to force “greater consideration” of issues surrounding security and existing payment systems. Read more...