Iran Forges Ahead With Further Crypto Legislation Despite Ban on Mining
Iran joins the list of countries looking to regulate the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Tokenhell had reported a day ago that India was contemplating on enacting crypto regulations. Paraguay and Mexico have also joined the list. All of these latest developments may not be unconnected to El Salvador’s new regulations that makes Bitcoin a legal tender along with the US Dollar.
El Salvador’s step towards adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender is now serving as a catalyst spurring other countries up and making them reconsider their initial hostility against Bitcoin and the blockchain technology. This week the Iranian authorities issued a circular concerning the importance of a legal structure for crypto-related transactions in the Arab country.
The President, Hassan Rouhani, stated that the economic intelligence agenda is a “requirement” to maintain and protect the country’s interests. The President’s statement comes as the cryptocurrency and blockchain space is becoming mainstream with new technologies emerging daily.
With this, the country is considering establishing regulations instead of an outright ban of digital currencies as a way to position itself at the top echelon of technology-savvy countries. However, before the country’s latest circular, it had initially given thought to regulations on cryptocurrencies last year. At the time, Iranian lawmakers had enjoined the country’s principal bank (Bank Markazi) to seriously consider the concept of cryptocurrencies.
Iran’s President States Reasons for Crypto Regulations
Moreover, the president’s statement is not only directed at attempts by the country to introduce crypto regulations; he also emphasized on how necessary it is to educate the citizens of Iran on digital currencies. In his statement, he considered it necessary and warned that people who are ignorant about crypto should not go ahead to invest money without understanding it or seeking assistance. He stated,
“The responsible organisations within the discipline of capital markets should collaborate with the media and the online community as regards informing, educating the public on the crypto and blockchain space, and their nuances and laws.”
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arab country made pleasant remarks about cryptocurrencies. The Minister of Health encouraged people in the country to shy away from using cash and adopt cryptocurrencies. Of course, the minister’s comment was for no other reason than social sanitary practices. However, his comment highlights the ever attractive uses of cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Regulations: Iran’s Position on Crypto Mining Remains Unchanged
Despite those pro-crypto remarks from Iran’s president, the ban on crypto mining has not been reversed. The President cleared the government’s position on crypto mining, saying that the ban still continues. The Ministries of Communication and Information Technology and Energy is saddled with the responsibility of preventing recognised mining facilities from using the country’s power for their mining activities. Crypto mining firms were attracted to the country due to its low cost electricity such that mining activities increased within a few years. At first, the authorities got down to creating an approach to develop on this.
However, the government’s stance on mining activities remains skeptical. At the start of the year, the authorities imposed a fine on local miners using household power for their activities. After the fine was imposed, rumours emerged that the government was spying on these miners and their unlawful activities. The country had even experienced a series of power outages which forced miners to close down on their activities.
Following this, the government had issued a statement giving effect to the imposition of fines for mining activities. The government’s recent move on crypto regulations is really not an indication that it will be willing to embrace a bigger crypto ecosystem.
Tokenhell produces content exposure for over 5,000 crypto companies and you can be one of them too! Contact at info@tokenhell.com if you have any questions. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Some of the posts on this website are guest posts or paid posts that are not written by Tokenhell authors (namely Crypto Cable , Sponsored Articles and Press Release content) and the views expressed in these types of posts do not reflect the views of this website. Tokenhell is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content or banners (ad space) posted on the site. Read full terms and conditions / disclaimer.
