Iran could follow the lead of Venezuela and develop its own cryptocurrency, a move that could bring in much-needed money for the sanctions-hit country.

Cash-strapped Venezuela on Tuesday became the first country to launch its own version of bitcoin, a move President Nicolas Maduro celebrated as putting his country on the world's technological forefront.

In its first hours on the market, the so-called petro racked in $735 million worth in purchases, Mr Maduro said without providing details.

In Iran, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, minister of Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, tweeted that state-run Post Bank was working on developing a cryptocurrency.

"In a meeting with the board of directors of the post-bank on digital currency-based blocking chains, it set out the necessary measures for the pilot implementation of the country's first digital currency ... A pilot model for review and approval will be presented to the banking system of the country," he said.