Although the State of Iran will soon issue its own cryptocurrency, it has not yet developed a legal framework that regulates and controls that asset
Iran will be one of the few countries that will have its own cryptocurrency which would be approved and accepted by the legislation of their government. To achieve this goal, this asset will be approved by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and also will be backed with the gold of the country.
Through a recent report issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture of Iran, last July 13th in Tehran, an official form was released, informing citizens that the CBI approved the issuance of the official cryptocurrency.
With the aim to conduct this process in an appropriate manner, the developers specified that the cryptocurrency mining will be conducted through a previous agreement of private companies that are dedicated to the solution of technologies and innovations. These companies have focused on the development of different technologies in countries of the Middle East. Currently, the names of the companies that will provide this service in conjunction with the State of Iran are unknown.
However, the CEO of FANAP, one of the most important business consortiums in Iran, Shahab Javanmardi, commented that this new Iranian cryptocurrency will represent a great advance for technology and that this digital asset supported by the gold of the country will have the same qualities and advantages than other digital currencies of the world.
With respect to the regulatory matter, and with the intention of using part of the reserves of money that the banking sector in Iran has, Javanmardi suggested to the Government of the country to create a regulatory framework that allows controlling the digital mining activity that is developed in the country.
At the end of June, in the country emerged some news about the seizure of more than 1000 mining machines that were used to generate cryptocurrencies. The information was confirmed by the president of the Central Bank of Iran. This is something illegal in the country, as well as it lacks of legal terms for legal processing.
In technical terms, Iran is one of the countries with the greatest facilities for the development and growth of cryptocurrency mining, since the Government guarantees its citizens a significant subsidy for electricity service.
It is for this reason that many companies dedicated to this sector are in uncertainty regarding the legal framework of these assets, since these seizures of equipment for mining arise, and at the same time, the Government launches a cryptocurrency with mining capabilities.
However, Mostafa Rajabi, who is Iran’s Energy Minister, commented that mining is still an illegal activity and that his administration continues taking measures to prevent the mining of cryptocurrencies, because in most cases these activities are conducted within of mosques and schools, where electricity tends to be free.
It is still unknown under what terms the Iranian Government will allow the mining activity in the country, since they have not yet defined a legal framework and insists on banning the mining itself.
A similar case takes place in Venezuela, where the State has a cryptocurrency called Petro and, at the same time, chases, imprisons and categorizes all citizens’ mining activity as illegal.
By María Rodríguez
