The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has completed the pre-pilot phase of its CBDC development, according to an official statement from the Monetary and Banking Research Institute, the research arm of the CBI.
Mohammad Reza Mani Yekta, head of the CBI’s payment systems office, announced during the ninth annual conference on electronic banking and payment systems that Iran’s apex bank intends to expand the CBDC pilot’s usage of the country’s payment system, but without rushing its implementation.
Yekta also stated that the CBDC development pre-pilot phase had been successfully concluded with significant achievements, and the initiative would soon be launched in new environments, with more users expected to utilize it.
Yekta emphasized that the regulations governing the digital Rial would align with those for Rial banknotes, and the CBDC infrastructure would incorporate specific blockchain capabilities that would be distributed to both individuals and banks.
Ten Iranian banks have reportedly applied to participate in the digital Rial initiative. Three of them, Bank Melli, Bank Mellat, and Bank Tejarat, had already participated during the trial phase. All Iranian financial institutions and banks are expected to provide electronic wallets to enable the use of the forthcoming digital currency soon.CBI initiated plans to launch a CBDC pilot program in January 2022, following the completion of preliminary research begun in 2017. In September 2022, the regulator launched a CBDC trial to improve financial inclusion and compete with stablecoins globally.
As the Central Bank of Iran prepares for the highly anticipated visit of Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina, it is making progress on its plans for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by completing the necessary research to launch a digital Rial.
Last year, Russia’s monetary authority, the Central Bank of Russia, announced plans to launch a pilot program for its CBDC, the digital ruble. The digital ruble was created with the intention of playing an important role in the Russian economy, particularly to mitigate the impact of the wave of western sanctions imposed in response to the Ukrainian invasion.
The development of Russia’s CBDC is set to begin this year, with the goal of having it operational and accessible to the public by 2030.
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