Details of Iran’s National Cryptocurrency Unveiled

Iran has been developing a national cryptocurrency, a move that could allow them to evade US economic sanctions. Informatics Services Corporations, the country’s leading provider of banking systems, has reportedly been designing and developing the cryptocurrency and has now revealed its features.

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Built on Hyperledger

Informatics Services Corporations (ISC) has revealed the attributes of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s national cryptocurrency, Ibena reported Monday.

Established in 1993, the ISC is the country’s leading provider of banking systems. It is also affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran. Describing the country’s upcoming national crypto, the ISC wrote:

It is rial-backed and has been designed and developed by Informatics Services Corporations based on Hyperledger Fabric platform technology.

Hyperledger Fabric is an open-source permissioned blockchain framework hosted by the Linux Foundation. Originally developed by IBM and Blythe Masters’ Digital Asset Holdings, the platform specializes in smart contracts for supply chains, although it can be tailored to several different uses, including currency.

Other Features

The ISC further detailed that “after being tested and reviewed,” the infrastructure of Iran’s national crypto “is supposed to be as an ecosystem available for Iranian banks and active companies in cryptocurrencies.”

Additionally, the ISC explained that the blockchain infrastructure will be deployed in phases. The first rollout is described “as a token and interbank payment instrument” while the second phase will be aimed at using the cryptocurrency as “an instrument for retail payments in a society.” The ISC added:

Iranian cryptocurrency has been developed under private blockchain infrastructure and it cannot be mined…The issuer is [the] Central bank of Iran and the volume of issuance depends on the bank’s decision.

In May, Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, head of the economic committee of Iran’s parliament, said that “more than 2.5 billion dollars has been sent out of the country for buying digital currencies,” Ibena also reported. In July, he told the publication that over 500 BTC belonging to Iranians were seized by the US government.

Iran has stepped up its plan to develop the national cryptocurrency after sanctions were imposed by Washington aimed at restricting the country’s access to US dollars, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.

What do you think of the above details of Iran’s national cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below.

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