Iran has announced the timing of the launch of digital rial

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The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran plans to launch a pilot project for a central bank digital currency in one of the regions of the country by the end of August.

Iranian authorities are preparing to launch a pilotdigital rial project since the beginning of June. The launch is scheduled to take place on August 23. According to the head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Ali Salehabdi, the state-owned digital currency will be different from other decentralized cryptocurrencies - it is intended solely to replace the banknotes that are currently in use.

The head of the CBI clarified that outside the testregion, digital currency will be introduced only at the later stages of the project. The sole issuer of the digital rial will be the Iranian Treasury, and the coin itself is based on a distributed ledger system (DLT) and can support smart contracts.

CBDC will be issued in accordance withregulations governing the issuance of traditional banknotes and will be available exclusively for domestic transactions. The CBI will be responsible for monitoring the financial and economic impact of digital money on the economy and, especially, the impact on the monetary policy of the Central Bank itself.

The central bank had previously insisted thatThe government-issued coin will play a key role in the introduction of digital assets in a country where payments using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not allowed.

Earlier, the CBI announced trade banand promoting any digital currencies mined outside the country. Iranian authorities began blocking bank accounts for illegal transactions in the sale of foreign currencies and cryptocurrencies, as well as closing mining farms.