Iran has recently announced that they will begin to treat cryptocurrency mining as an industry. This comes after increased pressure on the country enforced by changing economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Amidst this bullish news, the price of Bitcoin [BTC] was reportedly around $24000 [converted] on some Iranian exchanges.
Price of BTC on EXIR exchange | Source: EXIR
Price of BTC on EXIR exchange | Source: EXIR
The exchange platform Exir reported a price of 1,020,000,000 IRR for 1 Bitcoin, bringing the value of the coin above its previous all-time high of $20000. The current price of the cryptocurrency is around $7300. The price of Ethereum was also inflated to be around $900, compared to its current price of $280.
The Iranian foreign exchange and monetary policy regulator, the Central Bank of Iran, is all set to draft a framework of policies for the newly created industry of cryptocurrency mining. According to Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace’s Secretary, Abolhassan Firouzabadi, the policy is set to be drafted in the next 18 days.
He said in a statement to IBENA that launching a national cryptocurrency is promising. He also stated that it showed promise in being used as a financial transaction instrument with Iran’s trade partners and friend countries. This is due to the rising economic pressures through U.S. sanctions.
He also added that the mining of cryptocurrencies has been accepted as an industry by many governmental and related authorities. The list includes the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Central Bank, Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.
The weakening of the Iranian Rial against the US Dollar is a point of contention for many, as economic sanctions by Donald Trump have driven European markets to withdraw from Iran. The President sent a clear message when the sanctions were passed earlier this year in August, thus forcing many companies to choose between Iran and the United States as target matters.
This is driving the rial to the brink of hyperinflation, as the value has been in a continued downward trend since the announcement of the revised sanctions. Just the announcement of the sanctions drove over 100 companies to withdraw and stop their operations in the country, with growing political unrest visible through riots and protests.
This represents another country that has turned to Bitcoin in the times of political and economic instability. This pattern was also seen with Venezuela and its hyperinflated fiat being swapped out in use by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies such as Dash [DASH].