UAE's “digital dirham” CBDC completes first government-level deal, testing took less than two minutes

In comparison, the UAE Ministry of Finance and the Dubai Finance Authority announced that they have completed the first transaction in the Digital Dirham (Digital Dirham) central bank's digital currency pilot phase. This is the first major development since the project was launched in March of this year. The transaction was executed through mBridge, a government payment platform, and marks a key step in the UAE's application of the national digital currency to government and private sector operations.

Ahmed Ali Meftah, executive director of central accounting at the Dubai Finance Authority, said the deal was aimed at testing the technical integration and operational readiness of the central bank system. The entire process took less than two minutes, verifying the potential of digital dirhams to improve settlement efficiency and shorten the intergovernmental payment cycle.

According to a policy document issued by the UAE Central Bank in July, the issuance of digital dirhams will be phased out, initially for payment purposes only, to avoid competition with savings or interest-bearing products. The project is seen as an important step by the UAE central bank to cope with the evolution of the monetary system in the digital economy era.

According to the Atlantic Council (Atlantic Council) statistics, currently only Nigeria, the Bahamas, and Jamaica are officially issuing CBDCs in the world, and 49 other countries are in the pilot phase.