According to government officials, Iran placed its $10 million first official order for cryptocurrency imports. “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 Cryptography to Order Imports
This week, Iran received its official first import order of $10 million in goods and services in crypto currency. Alireza Peymanpak, vice minister of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade and president of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), announced via Twitter Tuesday (translated by Google):
The first official order for cryptocurrency imports was placed this week. It is worth 10,000,000 dollars.
“By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” his tweet further reads.
Iran is considering allowing cryptocurrencies to be used as a payment method for imports since last year. CBI (Central Bank of Iran) declared in August that license currency exchangers as well banks could use cryptocurrency mined in Iran by licensed cryptominers to pay for imports.
2019 was the year that cryptocurrency mining became an approved industry by Iran’s government. The Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade granted over 1000 licenses to cryptocurrency mining operations in January 2020.
However, Iranian authorities said that some unauthorized miners are using household electricity for cryptocurrency mining, resulting in major issues for the country’s electricity industry. To prevent blackouts, licensed crypto miners were repeatedly ordered to stop operations. The authorities shut down over 6,000 illegal crypto mining operations across the country in September 2017.
In April this year, an official with 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.
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