Iran Prohibits Banks From Using Crypto-Currencies

On Monday Iran prohibited  the use of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies by banks and financial establishments debating on how best to regulate technology.

“The use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in all monetary and financial centers of the country was prohibited,” the Central Bank said in a daily record.

It stated that the government Money Laundering Committee had adopted this decision at the end of December and is currently enacting it.

The prohibition came because “all cryptocurrencies have the ability to turn into a means for money laundering and terrorist financing and in general can be turned into a means for transferring the money of criminals,” it added.

A lot of specialists in Iran see great potential opportunity in digital currencies as a way to prevail the problems and main issues associated with international sanctions and the difficulties faced by the country’s infirm  banks.

Earlier this year, 36-year-old telecommunication minister Mohammad-Javad Azhari Jahromi created a team to generate  his own cryptocurrency in Iran.

However  there are also apprehensions  that technology can erode the already weak banking system of the country and aggravate the flight of capital.

The Iranians, working on the emerging private cryptocurrency market, said that the prohibition  is hardly to influence their operations.

“This ruling referred directly to banks, financial institutions and currency exchangers that work with the central bank,” Hadi Nemati, who works for cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinex, told AFP.

“In my opinion, it doesn’t include the general public — it’s not a total ban on cryptocurrencies.”

However, Coinex suspended operations on its stock exchange platform, because “we always want to make sure we comply with the law”, he said.

“But I have seen other crypto exchanges were still working normally.”