As economic sanctions have started to break the economic stature of many countries, citizens and governments are looking for better alternatives and find cryptocurrency a reliable solution. The world’s third-largest oil producer, Iran now turns towards cryptocurrencies to ease the economic damage.
The Central Bank of Iran will draft a policy framework for the mining of cryptocurrencies in the next 18 days as Iran has agreed to officially recognize the crypto mining as an industry. Abolhassan Firouzabadi, The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, told IBENA, that strengthening the cryptocurrency trade between Tehran and its partners is a potent step towards a better future especially in the wake of renewed US sanctions.
IBENA is a specialized news agency in banking and economy which is affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran. According to the report, Firouzabadi stated that mining of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin had “been accepted as an industry in the government and all related organizations..” includig the government’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Central Bank, Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, Ministry of Energy, as well and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance. IBENA stated:
“But the final policy for legislating it (crypto mining) hasn’t been declared yet.”
Sanctions vs Cryptocurrencies
The recent shift in the U.S. sanctions has a lot of countries grappling for survival. Iran is the world’s third-largest oil producer within OPEC after Saudi Arabia and Iraq and the newly imposed sanctions for Iran are designed to cut oil sales from the country essentially cutting the economy’s lifeblood. To combat the same, the Middle East country is hoping to turn towards the digital assets to compensate for the expected squeeze in petrodollars.
In February, Venezuela issued a digital currency of its own called the Petro, which is claimed to be backed by oil. The US government responded to the same by banning its citizens from investing in the petro. On the flip side, Petro is looked upon more as a scam than a solution. A recent report suggests that the Venezuelan Cryptocurrency Has No Users, No Investors and No Oil to Back It Up.
While Venezuela’s doesn’t seem to get the hang using Crypto to overcome their economic crises, can we expect Iran to a better and sincere attempt at it?
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