King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is the King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. He was born on 31 August 1935 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to King Abdulaziz and Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. He ascended to the throne on 23 January 2015 following the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah.
His reign has focused heavily on modernizing Saudi Arabian society and economy, with an emphasis on developing a strong private sector as part of Vision 2030 – a plan designed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy away from its reliance upon oil exports by introducing measures such as cutting public subsidies and encouraging foreign investment.
In terms of cryptocurrency development, King Salman has been supportive but cautious when it comes to embracing new technologies including blockchain technology. In 2018 he established a regulatory framework for digital assets that allowed exchanges within certain limits; however this was accompanied by warnings about potential risks associated with investing or trading cryptocurrencies due to their volatile nature. The government also launched a cryptocurrency mining pilot program in 2019, though details remain vague at this stage due to security concerns related to terrorist financing activities that may be enabled through anonymous crypto transactions conducted outside traditional banking channels.
Overall it appears that while the country is open minded towards blockchain technology they are taking measured steps rather than rushing into anything too quickly, given both economic uncertainty posed by global pandemics as well as additional security threats posed by decentralized currencies bypassing traditional financial systems used for anti money laundering (AML) checks around the world.
