"In a meeting with the board of directors of the Post Bank of Iran on digital currency-based blocking chains, the necessary measures for the pilot implementation of the country's first digital currency were set out, using the country's elite capacity. A pilot model for review and approval will be presented to the banking system of the country", said Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Azari Jahromi on his Twitter account.
He also emphasized that using digital money was frequently becoming common at the international level, going on to say that that Iran also needed to invent its own mechanisms to keep pace with other countries in the same front.
The country appears to be following the path of another state, currently also a subject to US sanctions: Venezuela launched its own cryptocurrency this week, with President Nicolas Maduro announcing that the country is considering to partially use the Petro in oil trade.
READ MORE: Venezuela's Cryptocurrency Raises $735Mln, to Be Used in Oil Trade
The removal of economic sanctions against Iran in 2016 led to several openings in the country's commercial activities with other countries. However, the country is yet to fully profit from the lifting of the sanctions because of some remaining restrictions that concern banking transactions with Iran. Global banks and financial institutions also neglect to process Iran-related transactions over fears of coming across the US primary sanctions, which ban dollar-based services to the Islamic Republic.