Iran Begins First Digital Rial Tests

The Iranian authorities announced earlier this year that testing of the country’s national digital currency (CBDC), which has been under development since 2018, would begin over the next 12 months.

Now, the press service of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture has reported that the CBDC testing will begin today, September 22.

The Central Bank of Iran hopes to use the digital rial to take cash out of circulation and speed up the digitization of the payment infrastructure.

In May last year, the then head of the Central Bank, Abdolnazer Hemmati, announced the regulator, based on the CBDC concept, had started creating an infrastructure for the token.

The new head of the Bank of Iran, Ali Salehabadi, confirmed in early September the Islamic Republic has all the necessary infrastructure in place for digital riyal transactions.