The tension between the United States, the European Union and Iran and Russia has never really calmed down in recent years. Countries like Iran and Russia have been the victims of numerous international sanctions.
Now with the advent of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, both countries think of a way to get around some sanctions and discuss its adoption.
Russia and Iran share the same opinion on crypto-currencies
Russian media reported that Russia and Iran could eventually start using cryptographic currencies to circumvent the sanctions on them.
The head of the Iranian parliamentary commission for economic affairs, Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, spoke highly of cryptographic currencies. According to the latter cryptographic currencies are a promising means of transaction that would allow Iran and Russia not to use the US dollar. This new payment system can be an alternative to the SWIFT interbank payment system.
Iran’s central bank had been engaged to develop proposals for the possible use of cryptographic money. A few days earlier, Mohammad Pourebrahimi discussed this subject with the Duma Committee for Economic Policy; and with Russia Iran has been able to establish cooperation.
“Russia shares our point of view. We have said that if we succeed in promoting this project, we will be the first nations to use cryptographic money in the exchange of goods. “
Mezentsev Dimitry said that in the context of the international sanctions put in place against Iran and Russia, banking relations between the two countries should be of paramount importance.
On 5 July, an interbank working group meeting on financial and interbank cooperation will be held in Tehran. The Russian side is very optimistic for the meeting said Mezentsev.
While waiting for the Iranian national cryptocurrency to be put in place, the Iranians turned to other crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin.
Iran, growing interest in cryptocurrencies
With the exit of the United States from the nuclear agreement of the time of Barack Obama, the sanctions that formerly weighed on Iran threaten the country again, plunging its inhabitants in turmoil and resulting in a growing interest in cryptographic currencies.
In the last six months, the Iranian national currency, the rial, has lost about a quarter of its value with the announcement of the withdrawal of the United States from the nuclear agreement. In response to these events, the Iranian government has had to take drastic measures. In addition to having unified official exchange rates and raised interest rates, the government has decided to stop brokers in foreign currencies. With the sanction that denies Iran access to the international banking system, these measures have prevented citizens from withdrawing their money from the country.
Interviewed, an Iranian citizen spoke about the use of Bitcoin.
“With the foreign exchange bureaus that have been forced to shut down, the burdensome sanctions of the United States, and the value of rial collapsing, using Bitcoin seems like a good idea. There are some people here in Iran who buy and sell Bitcoin through the Localbitcoins platform. For now, it seems that Bitcoin is the only way to get money out of the country, but it’s not given to everyone because of the state of the rial. “
According to Mohammad Pourebrahimi, citizens have so far managed to spend $ 2.5 billion in cryptocurrency. To hinder the flight of capital, the Central Bank of Iran has come to prohibit local financial institutions from dealing with cryptocurrencies.
With the sanctions against Iran, the economic situation in Iran is at worst. The adoption of a national cryptocurrency would indeed be an ideal way to circumvent the sanctions and avoid a significant loss of capital.
If Russia and Iran manage to launch their own national crypto-currencies, it will be the other two countries that have succeeded after Venezuela. At present, the number of countries wishing to launch their own cryptographic currency is important, as in the case of Turkey, Sweden, Norway in Estonia.
