Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Saudi Arabia hires new head for digital currency programme

By Pramod Kumar
Wristwatch, Coin, Money Reuters/Dado Ruvic
Representations of cryptocurrencies are seen in this illustration.

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has appointed Mohsen Al-Zahrani to head its digital currency programme, Bloomberg reported.

The kingdom had taken a conservative approach on virtual assets until now, given their speculative nature, the report quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Neightbouring Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates, has taken the lead to become a global crypto hub, encouraging Riyadh to also draft regulations for the digital asset class.

Al-Zahrani, a former managing director at consultancy Accenture, will report to Ziad Al-Yousef, SAMA’s deputy governor for development and technology.

The new team in Riyadh will engage with some of the largest global crypto firms on future regulations.

According to the report, Binance Holdings Ltd. is one of several major crypto players who have set up in a Saudi team, identifying the kingdom as a largely untapped market.

In 2018, SAMA banned banks from processing transactions involving cryptocurrencies.

Elsewhere, the Saudi central bank has been collaborating with the Central Bank of the UAE for several years on introducing a potential joint digital currency.

Latest articles

Investor Tim Draper told AGBI the US must 'swing back to freedom' to avoid losing innovation to countries such as the UAE

Tim Draper: UAE benefits from US crypto ‘overregulation’

Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper has criticised the US for its restrictive stance on cryptocurrency, claiming it is driving innovators towards more encouraging and friendlier markets such as the UAE. The Gulf state is actively developing regulatory frameworks to lure new forms of business, amid intense regional economic competition. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have set […]

Saudi Arabia’s industry and mineral resources minister Bandar Al-Khorayef. The country is struggling to meet an FDI target of $100bn a year by 2030

Saudi industry minister tempts investors with funding incentives

Saudi Arabia’s ministry of investments and mineral resources is prepared to finance up to 75 percent of industrial projects in the country, as the kingdom tries to boost its low foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers.  Bandar Al-Khorayef, the minister of industry and mineral resourcespointed to well-developed infrastructure across 36 industrial cities, prefabricated factories ready to […]

Women working at a textiles factory in Izmir; Turkish manufacturing has been hit by rising costs and interest rates but economic growth is still anticipated

Turkish manufacturers waver on economic prospects

Turkey’s manufacturers are uncertain about the national economy’s prospects, with a report showing a slowing of new orders and an easing of output partly being offset by stronger inventory increases and expectations of a modest release from inflationary pressures.  The latest survey of Turkish manufacturers, conducted by Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and ratings agency Standard […]