Iran’s Central Bank Developing Blockchain Platform For Standardisation

By Rishma Banerjee

Iran has been trying for quite some time now, to utilise blockchain technology, to the fullest of its potential and the harsh sanctions imposed by the U.S. in the recent past only catalysed the process.

According to reports which were recently published by Al-Monitor, an independent reporting and analysis platform of the Middle East and North Africa, Iran’s Central Bank is developing a platform called Borna to provide a common standard for the use of blockchain in Iran. They are also focussing on bringing down the cost of developing blockchain solutions, which in turn will allow Iran’s banks and other financial entities to test and implement blockchain on a broader scale.

As per the report, a three-way partnership between blockchain solutions platform Areatak, Iran’s Central Bank and Informatics Services Corporation, has had been successfully conducted to give birth to blockchain platform “Borna” that has been developed using the Hyperledger Fabric. The platform will initially be offerring services like electronic customer identification, token management, and online auditing.

Borna developers are concentrating on creating a solution which will allow Iran’s Central Bank to broadcast its instructions and implement them using smart contracts while also enabling it to administer financial institutions to operate with maximum transparency. In order to confirm that their motives are fulfilled, platform developers are using globally accepted platforms, tools, and solutions to build the infrastructure, and are integrating international frameworks into the internal policies of Borna.

The fact that Borna uses Hyperledger is an assurance that it will be also be able to connect with international players in the future, initially, its only focus lies on imparting excellent solutions to local institutions by helping them store data in an immutable ledger, and detect and negate corrupt practices and financial crimes. The developers are also anticipating that this platform will create a new market for fintechs and startups that will be “easier to enter, boost investments and promote fair competition.”

CEO of Areatak, Saeed Khoshbakht, explained:

“Our wish is that simply by establishing their operations on Borna, businesses will have automatically gained the central bank’s initial license, which will be major progress for the fintech [enterprises],”

Plans are also being made tp integrate Iran’s sovereign cryptocurrency to the platform. However, Khoshbakht is of the opinion that even though it might not be very different from the cryptocurrencies already in existence, it might have lower transaction cqosts, on account of it being a government’s exclusive crypto.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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