TEHRAN- Required infrastructure is provided for trading cryptocurrency in Iran’s stock exchange, Head of Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) Shapour Mohammadi told IRNA on Saturday.

He said cryptocurrency is something related to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), but SEO is ready for any kind of cooperation and sees no barrier in this due.

The official said that the stock exchange can accept new financial instruments, but other organizations should also take the necessary decisions.

Iran is moving ahead with a plan to introduce a national cryptocurrency, partly as a way of busting U.S. sanctions.

The Iranian government said in April that it had developed an experimental domestic cryptocurrency.

On July 25, Press TV reported that the “plan to create an indigenous cryptocurrency” was moving forward, and the central bank was working with “domestic knowledge-based companies” to develop the digital currency.

The Iranian central bank had long been cool on cryptocurrencies, to say the least. Last year, reports suggested Iran was looking at Bitcoin as a solution for the country being cut off from international payments networks, but in February the central bank nixed the idea, expressing distaste for cryptocurrencies in general. The central bank then cracked down on financial institutions offering cryptocurrency services, in order to combat capital flight.

“We are trying to prepare the grounds to use a domestic digital currency in the country,” Alireza Daliri, from the technological directorate of the Iranian Presidential Office, told local media, per Press TV. “This currency would facilitate the transfer of money (to and from) anywhere in the world. Besides, it can help us at the time of sanctions.”

MA/MA