The Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has confirmed it completed a cross-border transaction with the use of Ripple technology.

Back in May, the KFH was the first to announce a partnership with Ripple. At the time, the bank was planning on being the first to offer instant cross-border payments with the Ripple xRapid platform.

KFH is the First Bank in Kuwait to Join RippleNet for cross-boarder Instant Payments utilizing blockchain technology — Kuwait Finance House (@KFHGroup) May 26, 2018

KFH Completes Blockchain Transaction Between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

Now it seems it might be close to achieving that goal. The bank released a video in Arabic confirming the transaction. According to an Arabic speaker on Reddit, the video says,

“Your house (Kuwait Finance House) has successfully conducted the first blockchain financial transaction in Kuwait using the Ripple platform. The transaction was completed to a client account in Al Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia as part of a successful trial and test.”

The video confirms the KFH is the first successful bank in the region to complete a blockchain-based transaction. Once the bank completes testing, it will release a platform to the public.

The narrator continues saying,

“It was also the first successful blockchain financial transaction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) conducted through the testing environment of the Saudi Funding House platform in collaboration with Ripple. The live version of the service will be deployed after the successful testing, and upon final approval from the Central Bank of Kuwait, that confirms the need for high security and technical measures related to such services.”

Kuwait Embraces Blockchain as Saudi Arabia Bans and Condemns It

Kuwait has demonstrated a strong affinity with blockchain in the past few months. A few days after KFH’s announcement three months ago, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) also joined the RippleNet.

NBK leads the way in Kuwait in a partnership with RippleNet to offer instant cross-border payments to customers@Ripple pic.twitter.com/YCbDtmxnqV — National Bank of Kuwait (@NBKPage) May 29, 2018

Not so far away, in Kuwait’s neighboring Saudi Arabia, the future doesn’t look so bright for cryptocurrencies. Earlier this week, the government banned trading of all cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin included. Dealing with digital currencies is now illegal.

Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal has reportedly said,

“I just don’t believe in this bitcoin thing. This thing is not regulated. It’s not under control. It’s not under the supervision of any federal – elect – United States Federal Reserve or any other central bank.”

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