Iran’s Crypto Rial Project Entering Trial Phase

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that they have successfully completed the pre-trial stage of the digital Iranian Rial.

The authorities in Tehran are planning to expand the state-backed digital currency’s use and to integrate it into the payment system of the country.

Trial phase

Also referred to as the ‘crypto rial’, the project of launching the digital counterpart of Iran’s fiat currency has now entered its trial phase.

The announcement was made this week by the head of the CBI’s payment systems’ supervision department.

Mohammad Reza Mani Yekta said that they had made certain achievements in the pre-trial stage. He talked about the project at a conference on electronic banking and payment systems.

The forum had its first day on Monday where Mani Yekta noted that there were more than 90 central banks that were currently working on blockchain-related projects.

The challenges

He stated that it was back in 2017 that the monetary authority of Iran had taken the first steps to launch the project, but they had mostly been technical.

He also asserted that the CBI had been working on dealing with the different challenges, including the economic challenges associated with micropayments.

Mani Yekta said that they were also studying a number of other aspects. He also revealed that the digital rial had first been released in September last year.

This was when the central bank had announced the launch of its central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The CBDC

They had then distributed the CBDC amongst commercial and national banks that already have the infrastructure required for providing the public with relevant services.

The executive also asserted that the rules applicable to the digital rial are the same as those that apply to banknotes.

Other than its CBDC, the Iranian central bank has also been exploring the idea of introducing a gold-backed stablecoin that will be used for making international settlements.

Russian media had reported earlier this year that the topic had been brought up for discussion with officials in Moscow.

The Western governments have sanctioned both Russia and Iran, which explains why the two are discussing the possibilities.