Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of finance and cryptography.
Iran Places First Official Cryptocurrency Import Order Worth $10 Million – Regulating Bitcoin News
Iran has placed its first official import order using cryptocurrency worth $10 million, according to a government official. “By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” the official added.
Iran uses crypto to place import orders
Iran placed its first official import order for goods worth $10 million in cryptocurrency this week. Alireza Peymanpak, deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade and president of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), announced via Twitter on Tuesday (translated by Google):
This week, the first official import order was placed with $10 million worth of cryptocurrency.
“By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” it says further on Twitter.
Iran has been considering allowing the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for imports for over a year. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced last August that banks and licensed currency exchangers can use cryptocurrency mined by licensed crypto miners in Iran to pay for imports.
The Iranian government approved cryptocurrency mining as an industry in 2019. In January 2020, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade issued over 1,000 licenses for cryptocurrency mining.
However, Iranian authorities said some unauthorized miners are using household electricity to mine cryptocurrency, resulting in major problems for the country’s electricity industry. Licensed crypto miners were ordered to halt operations to prevent blackouts several times. Last September, the authorities reportedly confiscated over 220,000 mining machines and shut down almost 6,000 illegal crypto mining farms across the country.
In April this year, an official from Iran’s Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said the country’s administration will approve new rules to increase penalties for unauthorized cryptocurrency mining.
What do you think about Iran using crypto to place import orders? Let us know in the comments section below.
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