The Iranian High Council of Cyberspace confirmed on Thursday the new status of cryptocurrency mining as a national industry. Regulators now recognize the crypto-industry as an intent to dodge the economic pressure caused, among other reasons, by United States sanctions. secretary Abolhassan Firouzabadi stressed that the authority will “declare the framework and final policies” for startups and companies in the cryptocurrency sector before the turn of this month.
According to Firouzabadi
“We [at the HCC] welcome Bitcoin, but we must have regulations for Bitcoin and any other digital currency…Our view regarding Bitcoin is positive, but it does not mean that we will not require regulations in this regard because following the rules is a must.”
The Iranian government’s recognition of cryptocurrency mining as a legitimate industry propelled Bitcoin price over $24,000 in some of the cryptocurrency exchanges in the troubled nation. One of these being the Exir platform, which set BTC token at 1,020,000,000 IRR. The value of Ethereum was $9.
Iran’s Central Bank is preparing draft policies and regulations for the recently recognized mining industry. The pilot is expected to be ready in less than 3 weeks. Firouzabadi, suggested the idea of issuing a national cryptocurrency, according to the council it,
“can be used as a financial transaction instrument with Iran’s trade partners and friendly countries amid economic pressures through U.S. sanctions (…) launching the national cryptocurrency is promising and can be used as a financial transaction instrument with Iran’s trade partners and friend countries amid economic pressures through U.S. sanctions.”
The strong devaluation of the national currency against the dollar price, due to the withdrawal of several European markets from Iran to avoid conflict with the United States after Iranian President statements, has led numerous companies to cease operations in the country (presumably more than 100). Due to the political destabilization that the nation has been experiencing for several months, this situation has encouraged locals to approach the cryptocurrency industry as an alternative to safeguard their funds for the future.
Trading activity has been rampant in Iran during recent months with the head of Iranian Parliament’s Economic Commission claiming citizens had spent over $2.5 billion buying cryptocurrencies beyond the country’s borders in anticipation of the United States’ formal withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.
By Samuel Larreal
