e-Dirham Project, an opportunity for a central bank to step into a new era of payments

When the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published its 2021 Annual Economic Report four years ago, it declared that “Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) open a new chapter for money grounded on trust in the central bank”.

The same year, in its November 2021 report on CBDCs, the World Bank also turned its attention to the issue, especially with regard to the timing, i.e. when central banks should consider undertaking such an innovation and the legal considerations.

For the World Bank, determining the appropriate time for the implementation of a central bank digital currency is a key aspect of the project, provided that adequate technical, legal and economic conditions were met. These conditions include establishing the necessary infrastructures – including national communication and identification technology systems – and an extensive network of payment service providers, which appear to be indispensable and a prerequisite for any initiative.

In most cases, the introduction of a CBDC also requires a change to local legislation, although the need for changes to the law may vary depending on the technological characteristics of each CBDC and the legal system in the jurisdiction in question.

Other, more general, legal issues also need to be taken into account. Firstly, to issue a CBDC, a central bank must be authorised and have the power to do so. This should not be the most significant barrier, unless the applicable legislation expressly provides for the existence of a single currency. Secondly, the central bank must be able to issue money in digital form, without this conflicting with its statutory objectives, remit and powers. In terms of the security and efficiency of payment systems, it must be legal to use the CBDC in settlement systems and as a means of payment. Therefore, the central bank must prove the marginal utility of a CBDC and how it can contribute to a secure and efficient payment system. Other problems arise particularly in regard to the regulations governing [independent] digital currencies, which may or may not apply to the CBDC – without creating confusion between the two different forms of currency. And then there are data protection issues, particularly when the CBDC is made available to the general public. The CBDC can only become legal tender under the country’s laws once all of these legislative constraints have been addressed.

Building on the initial work of the BIS, the IMF and the World Bank on the subject, almost all supranational institutions in the banking and financial sector have worked on identifying the challenges and opportunities of introducing CBDCs into the international monetary system.

Interest and concerns about CBDCs have thus grown steadily over the past five years within central banks, revolving around monetary sovereignty and the transition to a new era of payments where traditional currencies (in physical or electronic form), virtual currencies, stablecoins and CBDCs would need to co-exist.

Several factors in the Moroccan context seem to have prompted the central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, to consider issuing a CBDC. Following the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the kingdom was first encouraged to take steps to legislate on Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) (like the appropriate regulatory framework that came into force in the European Union, with the MiCA regulation^[1]) to provide a regulatory response to a what is likely to be a growing phenomenon. On the other hand, the risk to monetary sovereignty posed by the emergence of stablecoins, especially those backed by the Dirham or the US Dollar, has prompted the Moroccan Central Bank to formulate an institutional response.

Issuing an e-Dirham seems to have become a priority for the Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, with initial technical tests over several months, as well as legal and regulatory studies. The Governor spoke at the 2025 seminar of the Association of African Central Banks and referred to work on a Moroccan CBDC, with the assistance of the World Bank and the IMF.

These would have included initiatives on use cases for peer-to-peer and retail payments, and new trials with the Central Bank of Egypt are expected to address the impacts and opportunities for cross-border transfers.

Segregation of the reserves in dirhams, intervention by Moroccan depositories, caps on outstanding payments, control procedures and audits could therefore constitute the regulatory system within which the e-Dirham would circulate in the medium-term.

Morocco could establish itself as a pioneer jurisdiction in the adoption of a digital payment instrument. The country could strengthen its monetary, economic and regulatory sovereignty, and reaffirm its objectives of financial inclusion in Morocco.

Although limited in scope and still contingent on clarification of the legal framework for the e-Dirham, this goal could be a game-changer for cross-border payments and interbank settlements, positioning Morocco as an important institutional player in the emergence of a new digital economy on the African continent.

^[1] Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on Markets in Crypto Assets