Extended economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic have compelled Iran to begin embracing cryptocurrencies as a form of currency for international commercial transactions.
According to a top government trade official, Iran has made its first international purchase order using $10 million worth of cryptocurrencies, despite decades of economic restrictions.
Iran’s Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade Alireza Peyman-Pak announced on Twitter on August 9 that the Islamic Republic has made its first import order using cryptocurrency.
While the official did not provide information about the cryptocurrency used or the imported products involved, Peyman-Pak said that the $10 million transaction is the first of many international deals that would be completed using cryptocurrencies, with intentions to increase this over the following month.
Before February of this year, Iran was the most sanctioned nation in the world. According to Trading Economics, most of Iran’s imports come from China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, and Turkey.
As a result of its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, Russia is now the country with the most sanctions in the world.
The Islamic country has already been preparing to adopt cryptocurrency by 2017. In October 2020, it updated previously released laws to permit using cryptocurrencies for import financing.
The Iranian Ministry of Trade gave 30 operational licences to Iranian miners in June 2021 to mine cryptocurrencies, which must be sold to Iran’s national bank. Iran is now utilising these minted currencies to pay for imports.
Iran considered a central bank digital currency (CBDC) based on the Hyperledger Fabric protocol in February to enhance its current financial infrastructure.
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