Iran Starts Testing Its Own CBDC, the Digital Rial
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At the beginning if the year, Iran’s authorities announced that tests of the national digital currency (CBDC) would start within the next 12 months. The Islamic Republic has been creating a token pegged to the rial, the country’s official currency, since 2018.
The press service of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture has now reported that CBDC testing started on September 22.
The Central Bank of Iran expects to use the digital rial to dislodge cash from circulation and accelerate the digitalization of the payment infrastructure.
In May last year, the then head of the Central Bank, Abdolnazer Hemmati, announced that the regulator, based on the CBDC concept, had begun creating an infrastructure for the token.
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