Iran's
minister of Information and Communications Technology said the test
model for a digital currency is currently under development
Russia
and Iran have expressed interest in developing their own digital
currencies to help combat U.S.-imposed sanctions, following this
week's successful launch of Venezuela's first cryptocurrency, the
Petro.
Mohammad-Javad
Azari Jahromi, head of Iran's Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology, said the test model for a "cloud-based
digital currency" is currently under development and will be
submitted to the Iranian bank system soon. The Iranian official
announced the move following a meeting with the state-owned Post Bank
of Iran on Wednesday, according to NPR.
The
Central Bank of Iran, however, has denied the rumors. According to
Iran Front Page News, the bank emphasized the "highly
unreliable and risky" nature of the digital currency market,
warning investors they "may lose their financial assets"
in a realm rife with "pyramid schemes."
Meanwhile,
Venezuelan Financial Minister Simon Zerpa Delgado was in Russia this
week, where he spoke with officials about strengthening collaboration
and about the Latin American nation's newly launched cryptocurrency.
Russian
officials have previously exchanged ideas about issuing some kind of
digital equivalent of the ruble to circumvent U.S. sanctions,
according to The New York Times.
China
and Singapore have also expressed interest in creating their own
forms of cryptocurrency, but experts say the nations will wait to
judge Venezuela's success with the Petro before bringing their own
versions to market.
Responding
to the interest by countries sanctioned by the United States and
European Union, Mati Greenspan, a senior market analyst at social
trading firm eToro, called cryptocurrencies an "excellent
idea."
"(Russian
President Vladimir) Putin and Maduro have very similar problems,"
he said. "They both have a high dependence on the price of
crude oil, which has been rather unstable in the last few years. They
both have issues with U.S. sanctions and with the U.S. dollar being
the world reserve currency. To think that of all the governments and
banks who are toying with the idea, it would be Nicolas Maduro who
gets there first."
Maduro
said Thursday that his government had raised US$1 billion in the
first two days of its Petro cryptocurrency sale.
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