Up to now, the more than one-thousand-year-old "hawala" system has been used in Iran’s mutual settlements with other states. The key figures here are hawaladars - brokers who perform the functions of the hawala system. It is a system of Islamic banking based on trust, in which money transfers are made without transferring funds across the border. For example, in order to transfer money from Iran to Russia, a person can contact a hawaladar, who guarantees that the funds will be delivered to the recipient in another country: a hawaladar from Iran will contact a broker from Russia, who will transfer the required amount to the recipient. Payments are made in local currency. This is how Iran now works with other countries, including Russia, settling many private transfers.
Therefore, the creation of a stablecoin backed by gold is a very promising and profitable business area. Moreover, Russia, as well as the Eurasian Union have already developed certain know how in this field. This will allow Iran to carry out mutual settlements with different countries of the world using digital technologies and will become an alternative to the hawala system. I think this is an important area that needs to be developed. Despite the fact that in Russia there are peculiarities in attitude towards digital currencies, it should be understood that the legislation of both Iran and Russia will be improved.
Iran is now on the verge of developing its financial systems. Interaction with Russia and with developers of digital currencies will make it possible to overcome sanctions and various other obstacles to the cooperation of states. In other words, time itself prompted Russia to create such a stablecoin. It is worth noting that Iran is a fairly rich state that has oil, gold, and very good natural resources. Therefore, this will probably be one of the best solutions. In addition, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated, the Russian MIR payment system will also be integrated with the Iranian Shetab system. This will entail not only the development of trade relations between Russia and Iran and the development of tourism in Iran, but also, quite possibly, will entail the further development of the stablecoin system and digital currencies based on gold stablecoins linked to payment cards. I think that now we are witnessing the birth of a new promising international system of mutual settlements.
By Andrey Morozov, President of the Eurasian Business Alliance
