The United Arab Emirates will launch their first digital currency by 2026, the Central Bank of this oil-rich Gulf country, a financial hub that has embarked on a race for new technologies, announced on Monday.

Several central banks around the world have recently announced similar plans, while criticizing decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

The Central Bank will "issue a virtual currency and work for the digital transition of financial services in the UAE," she said in a statement released by the official WAM agency.

This announcement is part of "its 2023-2026 strategy" which aims to "place it among the top ten central banks in the world," she added.

Race to create digital currencies

In 2019, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates announced a test phase of a common cryptocurrency for transactions between banks in two countries.

The Emirates regularly display their technological ambitions, in particular Abu Dhabi, the capital, and the city-state of Dubai, the financial hub with the most diversified economy in the region.

The country has invested in artificial intelligence technologies, launched a space program and hosts the regional headquarters of large multinational digital companies. The race for the creation of digital currencies by central banks was launched in March by China with the start of a test phase of its digital yuan. Central banks in the United States, the European Union and England are also evaluating the possibility of launching their own digital currency.

By introducing digital currencies, these public institutions ensure they want to bring stability to this highly speculative sector.

Created in 2008 to counter the abuses of global finance after the financial crisis, bitcoin, by far the largest asset in the cryptocurrency market, has attracted more and more institutional investors as well as individuals.

But its price is experiencing jolts after reaching peaks this year in the face of Chinese efforts to regulate this market.

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