The digital rial is being developed for retail purposes so far, but the integration of Iranian payment systems with Russia may foil US sanctions.
Iran will launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the near future, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor Mohammad Reza Farzin said at a national banking conference on Nov. 25. He called attention to the country’s well developed digital financial infrastructure and pledged to continue to innovate in the face of sanctions.
The CBDC launch is part of a larger effort to maintain modern banking practices, Farzin said at the Modern Banking and Payment Systems Conference in Tehran, according to news agency Tasnim. Farzin said:
The digital rial has been in development since 2018 and reportedly uses open-source Hyperledger Fabric technology. By mid-2023, it had completed the “pre-pilot” stage of research with the involvement of large Iranian banks.
