Iran

Iran set to adopt a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

Iran set to adopt a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

Iran – Central banks around the world are now keen to producing their own digital currencies, in a ground breaking move Nigeria has also joined the league of nations who have introduced digital currency.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is looking to join 15 other countries which include China, Sweden, South Korea, Nigeria that launched the e-naira just recently, etc.

Note-worthy, the Middle Eastern nation has been through its fair share of rough financial hardships following a sanction imposed on it by the United States, by all means it believes flagging off a CBDC will ease the blockade.

There has been a spade of corruption within the country, at this point it was believed that adopting a Central Bank Digital Currency will solve this problem.

Citing a report published by Transparency International in 2020 where the country scored 25 out of 100, there were corruption allegations against Iran’s high-profile government officials, this include top judges and parliament speaker who subsequently bagged jail term.

Journey to a CBDC

The Islamic Republic of Iran commenced its journey into digital currency in 2018 following the Central Bank’s directive to the informatics Services Corporation, purposely an arm of the CBI with the responsibility for payment and automation processes to build a CBDC.

The second in command of the CBI Mehran Moharamian has noted earlier that the Iran CBDC was developed with the Hyperledger Fabric protocol hosted by the Linux foundation, however not confirmed by either the Iranian Central Bank or Hyperledger.

The CEO of local cryptocurrency exchange “Exchange Iran” noted that there isn’t specific technical data about the Iranian CBDC.

So far the government has not informed anyone about the infrastructure, supervisors, the official white paper or the issuers in view.

The government target market are still not verified according to Ghazizadeh the CEO of Exchange Iran.

Power concerns a major problem with crypto progress in Iran

Iran stands at a pole spot as one of the leading countries to legalize Bitcoin mining with the aim to reduce financial burden on the country.

Historic droughts has further promote blackouts, the government only has to temporarily halt mining activities in the country to this regard.

The energy ministry has been implementing measures since January to reduce the use of liquid fuels in power plants including cutting licensed crypto farm’s power supply, turning off lampposts in less risky areas and strict supervision of consumption.

Conclusion

It sure wouldn’t have been impossible to predict the mass adoption and usage of Bitcoin and other crypto assets at the early stages of their development. The idea was to decentralize their operations and put power in the hands of the users.

At length, banks may be comfortable with crypto assets being used as speculative assets, however, may not buy into the idea that they can serve as medium of exchange.

It is clear that the Central Banks have seen the advantages as digital currencies have paved way for financial inclusion, possibly why they are trying to launch bank supported version of digital money.

Leave a comment