NBB and Partior Sign MoU to Assess Bahraini Dinar Settlement on Blockchain Network

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Partior, the multi-bank blockchain settlement network, to evaluate whether NBB could serve as a Bahraini Dinar (BHD) settlement bank on Partior’s infrastructure. The agreement covers assessment of the operating model, implementation requirements, technical feasibility, and applicable regulatory conditions within Bahrain’s financial services ecosystem.

Partior’s network is already in production, meaning the platform itself is live; what remains unresolved is whether BHD joins the roster of settled currencies and what role NBB would formally occupy. NBB’s Group Head of Transaction Banking, Vineet Munot, framed the engagement as an examination of how the bank’s local market capabilities could support BHD settlement within emerging digital infrastructure, signalling that a commercial decision is some way off.

For Partior, the partnership extends a stated strategy of broadening currency coverage to improve cross-border interoperability, and it explicitly positions this as part of a growing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) presence. Whether BHD settlement ultimately reaches production will depend on the technical and regulatory assessment the two parties have committed to conducting together.