- Iran and Russia are reportedly eyeing new stablecoins for cross-border transactions, including in the Astrakhan Special Economic Zone.
- According to local Russian media Vedomosti, the stablecoin will be backed by gold.
- Both Iran and Russia are subject to severe international sanctions.
Iran and Russia are looking to launch new stablecoins on the market, Russian news agency Vedomosti has report.
According to news outlets, Iran’s central bank and Russia’s central bank are collaborating on a project in which the two countries will issue new gold-backed cryptocurrencies.
Persian Gulf region-targeted stablecoins will be used for cross-border transactions in place of US dollars, Iranian rials and Russian rubles. Digital assets are also specifically intended as a method of payment in the Astrakhan region. This economic bloc is designed to help Russia start receiving cargo from Iran.
The report quotes Alexander Brazhnikov, executive director of the Russian Crypto Industry and Blockchain Association, as stating that the project is indeed underway.
Crypto in foreign trade transactions
Gold-backed stablecoins are indeed being tackled by both countries, even though they continue to face severe sanctions from the US and other Western countries.
Of note, however, both Iran and Russia have allowed the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade, and the Iranian government took that step in August last year. It deemed cryptocurrencies a “safe alternative” for cross-border payments in August.
In December 2022, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina said the country was ready to allow the use of cryptocurrencies only for foreign trade. The central bank was considering this experimentally.
Commenting on the latest report, Russian parliamentarian Anton Tkachev said the reported joint stablecoin will go ahead once Russia is able to fully regulate the digital asset market. The country, which has been considering a cryptocurrency regulation bill for much of 2022, plans to submit one bill in 2023 after multiple delays.