Saudi Arabia's central bank hires crypto chief to boost digital ambitions

Saudi Arabia’s banking regulator recently appointed Mohsen AlZahrani to lead its virtual assets and central bank digital currency program in a sign of the Gulf state’s potential crypto ambitions. 
 

Saudi Arabia has until now taken a more cautious approach on virtual assets, with officials raising concerns about their speculative nature. Yet the emergence of the neighboring United Arab Emirates as a global crypto hub has created some urgency in Riyadh to draft more formal rules for the asset class, people familiar with the matter said. 
 

AlZahrani, a former managing director at consultancy Accenture, reports to Ziad Al Yousef, the Central