The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) said on Wednesday that it has completed the first and largest central bank digital currency transaction (CBDC) wholesale pilot.

CBUAE said it carried out the six-week pilot project through engagement with other regulators, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the People’s Bank of China Digital Currency Institute and the Bank for International Settlements. .

The central bank of the United Arab Emirates said that the pilot was carried out on the “mBridge project”, which is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform custom developed by the five regulators mentioned above (i.e. CBUAE , the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China, and the Bank for International Settlements).

Throughout the pilot project, 20 commercial banks in the four jurisdictions used the “mBridge” platform to settle different types of payments for corporate clients, focusing on cross-border trade. Commercial banks made more than 160 cross-border payments and FX (foreign exchange) transactions totaling more than 80 million dirhams ($21.78 million) over six weeks, according to the report.

The development marks the first pilot use of wholesale CBDCs in the MENA region under the mBridge Project, according to the announcement.

Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of CBUAE, commented: “The mBridge reflects the UAE’s leadership vision to be one of the leaders in the development and issuance of CBDCs and the preferred regional hub for advanced financial infrastructure, as well as for CBUAE is among the main central banks worldwide”.

The test comes as US officials express doubts about the country’s willingness to develop its own digital currency.

According to the latest statistics, 109 countries are taking initiatives to create a CBDC. 11 countries have fully launched a digital currency. 14 countries are in the pilot stage with their CBDCs and preparing to launch, one of which is the United Arab Emirates.

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