Is Iran thawing on cryptocurrency?
In the past, the clerical and political leadership of the Islamic nation has been slow to embrace different kinds of digital assets, especially those decentralized tokens that could pose a threat to traditional banking systems.
Now, it’s being reported that Iran will allow cryptocurrencies to be used to fund imports in the wake of sanctions and other economic difficulties.
“Citing an article from The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iran Daily reported earlier this week that the country’s cabinet has amended recent legislation on digital assets to allow cryptocurrency to be used for import funding by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI),” writes Daniel Palmer today at Coindesk. “The amendment had been jointly proposed by the CBI and the cabinet previously. The change means legally mined cryptocurrency in Iran can only be exchanged if used to fund imports from other nations.”
Although this seems like a big green-light, the cryptocurrency legalization will be subject to some standards.
Miners will have to hand legally mined cryptocurrency over to Iran’s CBI, where the central bank will be a prominent custodian.
Then the resulting asset can be applied to imports.
U.S. sanctions have crippled the Iranian economy, and this is thought to be a step toward catching up. Iran legalized crypto currency mining last year.
In an age where we look carefully at institutional buy-in for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Iran’s activity can be seen as a particular kind of example. Countries that are struggling with economic problems can leverage blockchain and decentralized finance to their advantage, but it’s not like the decision-making process in other countries that don’t have those strictures. Countries like Russia, India and the United States are pursuing cryptocurrency strategy in relation to relatively thriving economies that don’t face the kinds of dire immediate challenges that Iran contemplates.
In any case, part of your crypto strategy is likely to relate to what these national governments are doing. Keep calling strikes and gutters to inform your investment plan.
