The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is reportedly planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot soon.
according to a report According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, the deputy governor of the CBI said CBDCs could help the country resolve financial inconsistencies.
The development of a sovereign digital currency in Iran began in 2018 at Informatics Services Corporation – the executive arm of the CBI. The development phase has been completed and a pilot will be launched shortly. However, CBI hasn’t revealed many details about the timeframe.
The Iranian CBDC was reportedly developed using the Hyperledger Fabric platform hosted by the Linux Foundation. Cointelegraph reached out to Hyperledger for comment but received no response at the time of publication.
Iran has encountered significant financial and economic difficulties as a result of severe economic sanctions imposed by the United States.
Amid these troubles, Iran has turned to cryptography and was among the first countries to legalize Bitcoin (Bitcoin) mining in hopes of reviving the economy, but had to do it Mining operations temporarily suspended several times due to acute blackouts and blackouts.
Iran is also trying to use cryptocurrencies for international trade in hopes of circumventing trade sanctions. As reported Cointelegraph, CBI and the Department of Commerce have agreed to connect the CBI’s payments platform to a trading system that allows businesses to process cryptocurrency payments.
Currently, almost 100 nations are working towards a sovereign digital currency, while only a handful of them have reached the pilot stage. China is currently in the lead: it completed its CBDC development in 2019 and is currently doing so Mass testing in different provinces and retail sectors.
Related: Iran halts authorized crypto mining to conserve energy for the winter
France and Switzerland have carried out several cross-border pilot projects. South Korea, Japan and Russia are scheduled to conduct trials in 2022 while the US is still at the discussion stage. According to the Atlantic CBDC Tracker, nine nations have already launched their CBDC, 14 are in the pilot phase, 16 in the development phase, 41 nations are still researching and two nations have canceled their CBDC plans.
CBDC Development Tracker Source: Atlantic Council
