Iran’s Central Bank, Ministry of Industry to Allow Crypto Payments for Foreign Trade Settlements

A mechanism will reportedly be put in place enabling local merchants to settle payments with international partners through the use of crypto

article-image

Tehran, Iran. Credit: Unsplash.

share

key takeaways

  • The Central Bank of Iran and the Country’s Ministry of Trade have reached a deal that would allow local merchants to use crypto for their international trade deals
  • The deal comes as Iran seeks out measures to circumvent decade-long US economic sanctions relating to Iran’s nuclear activity

Iran’s central bank and the country’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade have agreed to a deal that will enable local merchants to begin using cryptocurrencies for foreign trade settlements, according to local media reports.

A mechanism, finalized during the first meeting of a joint foreign currency working group between the bank and the ministry, will involve linking the bank’s crypto platform with Iran’s Comprehensive Trade System, the Financial Tribune reported Monday.

The system will allow local businesses and merchants to settle payments with international partners when using crypto. Further details on when the deal would come into effect have not been provided.

The deal comes as Iran continues to explore means to circumvent economic sanctions, imposed by the US in 2012, over Iran’s nuclear activity and the international community’s concerns relating to the country’s nuclear program at the time.

Alireza Peyman-Pak, the ministry’s deputy minister and head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, an affiliate of the Ministry of Commerce, made the announcement via his social media account on Friday, the Tehran Times reported the same day.

“We are finalizing a mechanism for operations of the system.” Peyman Pak said, per the Tribune’s report.

“This should provide new opportunities for importers and exporters to use cryptos in their international deals.”

Iran’s stance towards crypto has oscillated in recent years. In May of last year, Iranian authorities banned the domestic trade activity of crypto assets obtained from outside the country’s borders in an attempt to slow capital flight — viewed as depreciating the country’s currency, the rial.

That move came a month after the central bank said licensed institutions and money changers could make use of crypto mined by Iranian miners in a bid to navigate the country’s sanctions and promote economic activity.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Pipe Network is a decentralized content delivery network (dCDN) that replaces the sparse, capital intensive data center footprint of traditional CDNs with a permissionless mesh of independent node operators. By orchestrating under-utilized resources that already exist at the edge, rather than purchasing or leasing thousands of servers, Pipe slashes capital intensity while letting supply expand autonomously in the places where bandwidth is scarcest and most expensive.

article-image

Fiscal dominance isn’t about interest rates and it isn’t about Trump, either

article-image

Firestarter Storage brings decentralized storage and delivery to Solana

article-image

After lengthy closing arguments on Wednesday, the case is now in the hands of 12 jurors

article-image

Analysts cite weak trading volume and regulatory progress as factors

article-image

Builders weigh in on Ethereum’s first decade and the decisions that will define its next one

article-image

Closing arguments set to kick off Wednesday after Tuesday’s testimony from two expert witnesses and an a16z partner