Iran Places First Official Import Order With Cryptocurrency Worth $10 Million

Iran has placed its first official import order using cryptocurrency worth $10 million, according to a government official. “By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” the official added.

Iran placed its first official import order for $10 million worth of goods in cryptocurrency this week. Alireza Peymanpak, vice minister of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade and president of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), announced via Twitter Tuesday (translated by Google):

This week, the first official import order was successfully placed with cryptocurrency worth 10 million dollars.

“By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” his tweet further reads.

Iran has been contemplating allowing the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for imports for over a year. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced in August last year that banks and licensed currency exchangers can use cryptocurrency mined by licensed crypto miners in Iran to pay for imports.

The Iranian government approved cryptocurrency mining as an industry in 2019. In January 2020, the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade issued over 1,000 licenses for cryptocurrency mining operations.

However, Iranian authorities said that some unauthorized miners are using household electricity for cryptocurrency mining, resulting in major issues for the country’s electricity industry. Licensed crypto miners were ordered to halt operations to prevent blackouts several times. In September last year, the authorities reportedly confiscated over 220,000 mining machines and shut down nearly 6,000 illegal crypto mining farms across the country.

In April this year, an official with Iran’s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said the country’s administration will approve new rules to increase penalties for unauthorized cryptocurrency mining.

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