The Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade facilitated the nation’s first import of goods in cryptocurrencies.
The Middle East’s leading economy is one of the biggest importers of digital assets. Iran reportedly placed an order for coal mined worth $10 million this week through cryptocurrency.
Iran and Crypto Adoption
Reuters reported that the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade had approved the first authoritative order for importing goods. Following this report, the Deputy Minister, Alireza Peymanpak stated:
“This week, the first official import order registration worth 10 million dollars was completed using cryptocurrency.”
Last year, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) enabled banks, currency exchanges, and licensed miners to settle imports in cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, Iran further assured that its digital assets and smart contracts will be widely used in foreign trade in the following months.
Despite that, the Iranian authorities have not been so kind to the industry, and more particularly to the mining niche, in the recent past. A close observation could be the fight to shut out illegal mining powers and focus on mining projects from legal and monitored industries.
Iran and Power Sustainability
“Any use of subsidized electricity, intended for households, industrial, agricultural, and commercial subscribers, for mining cryptocurrency is prohibited,” Mohammad Bohlouli – a Tavanir Executive
Earlier this year, the authorities warned they might increase the sanctions on illegal BTC miners.
In the spring of 2021, the Iranian government banned all bitcoin mining operations for four months to preserve the stability of its electricity network during the peak summer season. A month later, the country’s law enforcement agents raided an abandoned factory in Tehran and confiscated 7,000 BTC mining machines.
In December last year, the Iranian government halted crypto mining operations again, citing electricity blackouts during the winter.
Iran biggest challenge is electricity power diversion to illegal mining instead of households, businesses, and companies. Can Iran maintain this developing adoption of cryptocurrency irrespective of the power grid challenges?