According to Alireza Peymanpak, Leader of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), “By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widely used in foreign trade with target countries,”
Iranian authorities have approved using cryptocurrencies for import transactions to evade sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.
The new set of regulations by the Iranian government will allow import-related transactions to be completed using crypto instead of traditional fiat currencies. Using cryptocurrencies to settle import payments in this manner would enable the nation to bypass the restrictions and sanctions set by the U.S. government over Iran’s nuclear program.
Reza Fatemi Amin, Iran’s Industry, Mine, and Trade Minister, revealed that Iranian administrators had finalized the regulations to utilize crypto for completing import orders instead of Dollar or Euro on Sunday, citing:
“All the issues related to crypto-assets, including how to provide fuel and energy, and how to assign and grant licenses were devised.”
The nation completed its first official import order worth $10M using crypto earlier this month. The transaction was meant to act as a test run to avoid U.S. trade restrictions and trade with other countries like Russia that were sanctioned by U.S. officials.
This announcement steers Iran’s crypto policy in a new direction as the nation had previously banned crypto transactions in 2019, citing a heavy toll on Iran’s power supply due to mining farms as the reason behind the ban. However, reports dating to early 2022 stated that Iran’s Central Bank and the ITPO signed a deal to allow crypto to be used for cross-border trading.
Regarding these developments, Peymanpak said,
“These cryptocurrencies and blockchain systems have many practical discussions in business affairs. If we neglect it, we will lose a major part of business opportunities.”
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