The Central Bank of Iran is planning to launch the pilot phase of its digital currency project soon, an official unveiled. The Islamic Republic hopes to join a growing club of nations that want to take advantage of being a sovereign coin, while it seeks to implement blockchain technology in other areas.
Iran to begin testing state-backed digital currency
A high-ranking representative of the financial regulator, quoted by the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), said Iran’s monetary authority intends to pilot its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the near future. The news comes in the fourth year of the project’s initial announcement.
According to a statement by Mehran Mohramiyan, deputy governor of IT at the Central Bank of Iran, the CBI sees digital currencies as a solution to some of the discrepancies and decentralization of resources. He added that other countries have started to benefit from CBDCs.
Moharmian did not give specifics about the start of the pilot phase. Tehran officials tasked the country’s Informatics Services Corporation to develop a “national cryptocurrency” in 2018. The CBI branch is operating the country’s banking automation and payment services network.
Later, the company revealed that the Iranian digital currency has been designed using the Hyperledger Fabric platform, a blockchain framework implementation, and one of Hyperledger’s projects, hosted by the Linux Foundation.
Blockchain Hopes to Revitalize the Iranian Stock Market
Although the Iranian crypto space is largely unregulated – other than mining – another report this week indicates that authorities are looking into different ways to employ the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Iran’s capital markets should really consider using blockchain technology as it can help meet some of the key needs of the stock market and create new opportunities for its revival, according to the Iranian Securities and Exchange Organization. Major Majid Ishqui recently commented. Quoted by the military and the English-language business daily Financial Tribune, he elaborated:
At the latest, in two years we will be forced to use blockchain technology… It will not take much time to start tokenizing physical assets and stocks that can be easily traded on the new platform.
He added that the time has come to consider the potential of blockchain technologies to solve some of the current issues, such as the identity verification of shareholders, for example, and start the infrastructure process.
In early January, Iranian media revealed that Tehran was going to allow local companies with their partners abroad to use cryptocurrencies in international settlements. The central bank and the sanctioned country’s government have reportedly given the green light to adopt a mechanism to facilitate payments with digital coins in the field of foreign trade.
Do you think Iran will continue to explore ways to implement cryptocurrency and blockchain technology? Tell us in the comments section below.
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