Organizations that unlawfully exported technology to Iran, including one that created the digital currency platform used by the Iranian central bank, were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury.
A press release from the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated that sanctions were placed on a group of organizations on February 14 for their role in enabling the “illegal export of goods and technology from over two dozen U.S. companies to end-users in Iran.”
In particular, Iran-based Informatics Services Corporation (ISC), a Central Bank of Iran subsidiary that recently created the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform, was sanctioned by the financial regulator, according to the document.
ISC has allegedly “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support, for, or goods or services to or in support” of the Iranian Central Bank, according to OFAC, for which it is being sanctioned.
Together with ISC, the UAE-based Advance Banking Solution Trading DMCC was also hit with sanctions by OFAC, the regulator said. The company served as a front company for ISC and “falsely claimed that it was the ultimate end user of the products, concealing their intent to forward the items to Iran from U.S.-based vendors.”
Iran has been investigating the possible advantages of CBDCs, including as lowering transaction costs, promoting financial inclusion, and enabling cross-border transactions, much like many other nations have.
In 2018, ISC began developing a digital currency utilizing the Hyperledger Fabric, a blockchain platform managed by the Linux Foundation.
