Morocco is looking to expand access to financial services through the integration of blockchain technology in the country’s financial sector.

Speaking at the Africa Blockchain Summit in Morocco’s capital of Rabat, the country’s central bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said that Morocco will deploy financial technology to enhance access to financial services, Morocco World News reported on Nov. 21. This fintech implementation will come as part of the country’s financial inclusion strategy and especially targets underserved citizens.

To reach the unbanked

Jouahri further elaborated that the application of fintech, including blockchain technology, would help Morocco to achieve its goal to provide “all individuals and businesses a fair access to formal financial products and services […] in order to promote economic and social inclusion.” Jouahri said:

“Blockchain is by far the most disruptive technology of this decade.”

Specifically, the central bank intends to create lower-cost models to bring financial services to underserved citizens and develop favorable conditions for non-cash transactions and settlement.

Morocco’s crypto and blockchain developments

Morocco has been testing the waters of decentralized ledger technologies recently; this spring it collaborated with a range of international organizations to conduct the world's first supposed cross-border securities settlement between two central depositories using the Quartz blockchain.

Last September, news broke that Morocco was going to build a 36-megawatt crypto mining farm in partnership with American Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Soluna. The scheme, known as a power purchasing agreement, would enable the company to establish a foothold in the region with the possibility of expanding sales beyond the border in future years.