#Bitcoin:Iran Government Bans Banks from Dealing with Cryptocurrencies

Banks in Iran have been instructed to stop investing on cryptocurrencies due to fear of money laundering.

According to a report from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Sunday, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) was quoted saying:

“Banks and credit institutions and currency exchanges should avoid any sale or purchase of these currencies or taking any action to promote them.

“Cryptocurrencies have the option to be used for money laundering, supporting terrorism and exchange of sums between wrongdoers.”

Back in February, the minister of Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, said that a state back crypto maybe on the cards for Iran.

The minister tweeted: “In a meeting with the board of directors of Post Bank on digital currencies based on the blockchain, I prescribed measures to implement the country’s first cloud-based digital currency.”

According to the report, this move came amidst growing problems for the nation.

The rial, which is the country’s fiat currency is currently in a nine-month downward trend.

Report has it that the rial has fallen from 36,000 rials per dollar in September 2017 to 60,000 to the dollar last week.

Iran’s capital, Tehran, have banned dollar changes in the city and the CBI is also attempting to peg the rial to 42,000 per dollar.