The central banks of India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will jointly conduct pilot programs on their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a press release on Wednesday.
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Fast facts
- India’s central bank and its UAE counterpart have signed a memorandum of understanding in Abu Dhabi to explore “interoperability” between the two countries’ CBDCs.
- In this case, interoperability refers to the ease of flow between CBDCs of one country to and between other countries.
- The bank’s activities will include “joint implementation of two-way CBDC bridge proofs and pilots to facilitate cross-border CBDC remittance and trade transactions,” the statement said.
- India has been testing retail CBDCs in 15 cities since last November, with plans to expand the trials. In December, the country also launched a wholesale CBDC pilot to test the regulation of secondary market transactions in government securities.
- The UAE’s central bank last month announced its plans to launch its CBDC, among other blockchain-related initiatives, as part of efforts to become a hub for finance and digital payments.
- According to a Monday report by UK tech market researcher Juniper Research, the global value of CBDCs is expected to grow from $100 million today to $213 billion by 2030 as virtual money gains greater use for domestic payments.
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