#Cryptocurrency:Iran Creates own Cryptocurrency Amid Fears Donald Trump will issue Crippling Economic Sanctions
The government of Iran has moved to created its own cryptocurrency amid fears the United States President, Donald Trump, will issue crippling economic sanctions on them.
While announcing the new development, the Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister, Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi, said:
“Last week, at a joint meeting to review the progress of the local cryptocurrency project, it was announced that the experimental model was ready.”
According to express.com, the digital currency was jointly created by the CBI and Iran’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ministry and the announcement comes days after the CBI banned bitcoin trading amid money laundering fears.
“The Central Bank’s ban does not mean the prohibition or restriction on the use of the digital currency in domestic development,” the minister, said;
“The CBI ban on bitcoin dealings was made out of concerns that the volatility in the crypto market could lead people to lose their assets. Bitcoin is not the one and only cryptocurrency.”
The minister first tweeted about plans to back crypto in February, when he wrote;
“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.”
The new development of creating own currency is in preparation ahead of the anticipated return of Trump’s economic sanctions on Iran which is in connection to the country’s nuclear deal.
Recall that earlier this month, Iran, had banned bitcoin trading, blaming concerns over money laundering, after the value of rial had crashed to a record low amid fears Mr Trump would pull the US out of the nuclear deal.
When Mr Azari-Jahromi, was asked if the Iran crypto has been developed to sidestep US sanctions, he said:
“All cryptocurrencies are capable of circumventing sanctions because they are not under the supervision of the U.S. financial regulatory body, and the national digital currencies are naturally capable of this.”
