Saudi Arabia's central bank injects liquidity in local banks via blockchain

Layer 1s • June 8, 2020, 8:26AM EDT
UPDATED: June 8, 2020, 4:22PM EDT
vkilikov/shutterstock.com

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the country’s central bank, has today announced that it recently injected part of liquidity in local banks via blockchain technology.

SAMA did not provide the amount of liquidity injection via blockchain, but last week the central bank decided to inject a total of 50 billion Saudi riyals (~$13.35 billion) to enable banks to support the private sector.

SAMA said the blockchain deployment is part of its continued efforts to explore and experiment with emerging technologies. Specific details of the initiative remain unknown. The Block has reached out to the central bank for comments and will update this story should we hear back.

This is not the first time SAMA has experimented with blockchain technology. Last year, it launched a digital currency project called Aber in association with the UAE’s central bank to help banks in both countries conduct remittances via blockchain. In 2018, SAMA partnered with Ripple to help local banks improve their payment infrastructure via RippleNet.

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Yogita Khatri profile picture Yogita Khatri

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block and the author of The Funding newsletter. As our longest-serving editorial member, Yogita has been instrumental in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With over 3,000 articles to her name, Yogita is The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Before joining The Block, Yogita wrote for CoinDesk and The Economic Times. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her latest updates on X at @Yogita_Khatri5.

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