Iran’s government says the country’s central bank will begin testing a digital currency on September 22.
Iran’s Chamber of Commerce is quoted in multiple media reports saying that the goal of the “crypto-rial” digital currency is to turn banknotes into “programmable entities.”
The announcement comes after Iran’s central bank published a draft document outlining the goals of a digital currency in August of this year.
In 2021, Iran’s central bank said it had developed a digital version of the country’s rial currency, and that it has the infrastructure needed to successfully launch and manage a digital rial.
Iran’s government has said repeatedly that it views cryptocurrencies as a means of sidestepping punishing U.S. sanctions imposed on the nation of 84 million people.
However, the country’s digital currency is not designed to compete with global cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), according to Iran’s government.
