Iran is considering the development of its own cryptocurrency, following in the footsteps of Venezuela, CNBC reports.
The state-run Post Bank is working on developing a cryptocurrency, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Minister of Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, tweeted.
در جلسهای که با هیئت مدیره پست بانک در خصوص ارزهای دیجیتال مبتنی بر زنجیره بلوکی داشتم، مقرر شد این بانک اقدامات لازم برای پیاده سازی آزمایشی اولین ارز دیجیتالی کشور را با استفاده از ظرفیت نخبگان کشور به عمل آورد. مدل آزمایشی برای بررسی و تایید به نظام بانکی کشور ارائه خواهد شد.
— MJ Azari Jahromi (@azarijahromi) February 21, 2018
"In a meeting with the board of directors of Post Bank on digital currencies based on the blockchain, I ... prescribed ... measures to implement the country's first cloud-based digital currency," Jahromi said, according to a rough translation.
According to a report by The Iran Front Page news site, the country’s central bank has said it never recognized, nor planned on recognizing, Bitcoin as an official currency.
It also denied all claims that it was actively facilitating Bitcoin (Bitcoin) transactions to circumvent sanctions while making some rather bearish statements on cryptocurrencies in general.