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.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

RTK networks are critical to enabling a world of ubiquitous autonomous drones, vehicles, and industrial robots. We believe the GEOD token enables both a cost and product advantage for the GEODNET RTK network, which will allow it to out-compete multi-billion dollar incumbents Trimble and Hexagon.

article-image

As EIP-4844 “blobs” transform the economics of Ethereum layer-2s, a growing debate pits long-term scalability against immediate ETH value

article-image

Prosecutors argued that FTX co-founder Gary Wang cooperated in their case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried

article-image

The two largest crypto exchanges respectively run the second- and sixth-largest Solana validators

article-image

MicroStrategy’s bitcoin buying has exploded — it now holds 1.7% of the asset’s circulating supply

article-image

The MiCA era will reward the prepared and punish the rest

article-image

The market is, presumably, confused about what a Trump win means for the social media company