UAE's "Digital Dirham" CBDC completes its first government-level transaction, taking less than two minutes for testing

The UAE Ministry of Finance and the Dubai Department of Finance announced that the first transaction has been completed in the pilot phase of the Digital Dirham central bank digital currency, marking the first significant progress since the project's launch.

The transaction was executed through the government payment platform mBridge, signifying a key step for the UAE in applying national digital currency to government and private sector operations. Ahmed Ali Meftah, Executive Director of Central Accounting at the Dubai Department of Finance, stated that this transaction aims to test the technical integration and operational readiness of the central bank system, taking less than two minutes for the entire process, validating the potential of the Digital Dirham in enhancing settlement efficiency and shortening intergovernmental payment cycles.

According to a policy document released by the Central Bank of the UAE in July, the issuance of the Digital Dirham will be phased, initially only for payment purposes, avoiding competition with savings or interest-bearing products. The project is seen as an important initiative by the Central Bank of the UAE to address the evolution of the monetary system in the digital economy era.

According to the Atlantic Council, currently, only Nigeria, the Bahamas, and Jamaica have officially issued CBDCs, while 49 other countries are in the pilot phase.