A bill titled “Resilience of the Currency System” was recently submitted to the parliament, signed by 55 members of parliament, with the aim of completely restructuring the country’s currency and cryptocurrency structure. The 18-article bill is divided into five chapters and its main focus is on creating a centralized system under government supervision for all currency and cryptocurrency activities.
In the first chapter, all citizens will be required to open a "foreign exchange account" and receive a "foreign exchange card"; this card will be the only legal way to receive travel currency, student remittances, purchases from abroad, and imports.
The balance of these accounts is considered a deposit and receives an annual interest of at least 4% in foreign currency. Holding or buying and selling foreign currency banknotes outside this framework is prohibited and will be subject to penalties under the Law on Combating Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currency.
The second chapter is dedicated to foreign trade. Each year, the Central Bank issues a list of goods and services permitted for import, and the allocation of foreign exchange to goods outside this list is considered illegal. Non-governmental exporters who repatriate the foreign exchange earned from their exports on time will receive rial incentives. Limited baggage exports of some goods are also permitted up to a limit of $30,000.
Chapter 3 outlines the new rules for the cryptocurrency market: buying and selling cryptocurrencies is only allowed through selected exchanges and with authorized currency cards, and any direct transactions with banknotes are prohibited. Buyers are required to return the currency equivalent paid for the purchase of cryptocurrencies to their currency card within a maximum of one year. Former cryptocurrency assets must also be managed through the same legal mechanism.
Chapters four and five are devoted to macroeconomic policies, the determination of the official exchange rate by the Central Bank, the prohibition of foreign exchange subsidies, and production support.
