In an interview on Bloomberg Sharq as well as in his opening speech during the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh KSA, Saudi Minister of Municipalities and Housing Majid Al-Hogail mentioned the utilization of stablecoins as a payment tool for global investors in the property sector. He stated, ” We look forward to introducing stablecoins in the Kingdom soon, in partnership with the Capital Market Authority and the Saudi Central Bank.”
According to the Minister this step would open up the market to foreign investment on a wider front, noting that stablecoin market capital exceeded $300 billion one of the fastest growing of all digital currency assets globally. He also mentioned it makes up two thirds of all digital currency transactions on the blockchain.
He also discussed how any Saudi Arabian real estate developer would be able to ensure capital investments from anywhere across the globe in minutes while adhering to the financial laws and regulations in Saudi Arabia. He explained that with every Saudi Riyal backed stablecoin, or USD backed stablecoin, the Saudi regulators would be able to oversee and carry out necessary KYC and AML diligence.
Minister Al Hogail also noted that cryptocurrencies offer an advanced payment infrastructure in a decentralized manner and if integrated well into Saudi’s financial ecosystem, this would ensure quicker more secure payments for the financial sector.
He added that already Saudi Arabian Property infrastructure is being modernized with some entities preparing to offer tokenized real estate assets, under a regulatory sandbox initiative.
In a follow up interview with Bloomberg Sharq on the sidelines of the event, he noted that there were several companies already seeking licenses within the KSA to offer stablecoin payments. He emphasized the need for quicker transactions, and this is what is being worked on in Proptech sandboxes. He stated,” Stablecoins are being utilized by international global companies, and we are seeing companies that offer stablecoin payments seeking to be regulated in the country and hope this will happen soon.”
UAE is already utilizing tokenization in its property market and will be introducing AED stablecoins payments as well. The UAE had already regulated AED stablecoin payments for good and services within the country and has embarked on offering licenses for tokenization of real estate with entities such as Prypco.
Bahrain as well already introduced its stablecoin regulations allowing for both Bahrain Dinar backed stablecoins to be utilized as well as USD backed stablecoins.
