The Central Bank of Iran’s (CBI) chief of the payment systems supervision division said this week that the initiative to create a digital version of the Iranian national currency, commonly known as the “crypto rial,” is approaching its testing phase.
Without going into further detail, Mohammad Reza Mani Yekta was quoted by the regulator’s Monetary and Banking Research Institute (MBRI) as saying that the pre-trial stage had come to a conclusion with a number of accomplishments. During a symposium on electronic banking and payment systems, he was speaking.
The initiative to launch a digital Iranian rial has effectively completed the pre-trial stage, according to the nation’s central bank. The state-backed money will be used more widely and integrated into Iran’s financial system, according to Tehran’s ruling elite.
Mani Yekta further mentioned that more than 90 central banks are engaged in blockchain-related initiatives on Monday, the opening day of the summit. He said that in 2017, Iran’s monetary authority took the first moves in that direction, largely in the form of technical measures.
He highlighted the CBI’s work managing the economic difficulties associated with micropayments and researching a number of other topics as examples of the issues it has been tackling. Furthermore, he added that in September 2022, when the bank announced the start of the CBDC pilot launch, the first release of the digital rial was carried out.
National and commercial banks with the required infrastructure and the ability to offer pertinent services to the general public were given the issued money. The executive continued by stating that the regulations controlling the digital rial are identical to those governing rial banknotes.
On January 17, Central Bank Governor Ali Salehabadi announced that the Money and Credit Council had authorised such a currency at the Seventh Islamic Financial Conference. A trial period will soon start, according to Central Bank deputy governor Mehran Moharramian, as the bank evaluates “several potential impacts of the new technology on the state, citizens, and economic indices.”
When the United States imposed “maximum pressure” sanctions in 2018 and threatened to take disciplinary action against any third party interacting with Iran’s financial sector, Iran found it helpful to use both cryptocurrencies and digital money.
In addition to its digital currency, the Central Bank of Iran has been contemplating the establishment of a stablecoin supported by gold for use in foreign transactions. Russian press accounts from earlier this year claim that the subject has been addressed with representatives from Moscow.
Russia and Iran looked for methods to cooperate more closely in October of last year after drones built in Iran attacked the capital of Ukraine. Both countries were resentful of Western sanctions and saw the United States as an adversary. According to the reports in January, Iran and Russia were in discussions to jointly create a stablecoin backed by gold for use in international trade in an effort to get over the harsh economic sanctions that both governments face.
