Iran Banks Are Banned From Touching Bitcoin

The Central Bank Of Iran has taken matters into their own hands, and in an attempt to halt a currency crisis, thanks the money-laundering concerns have banned all Iran banks from dealing in cryptocurrencies. The ban means that banks are prohibited from handling any transactions that could enable the buying, selling, or the promoting of any virtual currencies. They reported this recent develop at the weekend via the Islamic Republic News Agency. They said;

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

There are many reasons for this ban, which has been the result of much larger concerns. The country has moved to unify its official and open market exchange rates, in an attempt to protect the rial, Iran’s fiat currency, which is quickly plummeting in value and saw its all time low just earlier this month. There are concerns though that there are some more questionable motives for this cryptocurrency ban, with a notice from the IRNA saying;

“Bitcoin does not abide by any governing rules and regulations in any countries and no government or bank around the globe monitor or supervises it.”

This is a fair statement, as many countries do not regulate cryptocurrencies at all, but there are many who are controversially instilling many regulations and are already putting virtual currency into pieces of legislative frameworks. Take the US – they treat cryptocurrencies as property, which makes it taxable. India have tried to completely ban cryptocurrencies as well. The main reason that countries want to take action on cryptocurrencies, and introduce more regulations is due to volatility and fraud. Iran recognises this, and wants to take action, saying;

“Virtual currencies have the option to be used for money laundering, supporting terrorism, and exchange of sums between wrongdoers, pointed out the CBI circulation.”

Some are calling this decision extreme and premature, despite the fact that cryptocurrencies have been used in money laundering cases before, but the CBI’s Supreme Committee is determined to tackle this fight head on. It should be noted though that the funds that have been linked to illicit activities are a tiny 0.61% of all money which is entering the cryptocurrency trading platforms. Some experts are saying that this extreme move s because there is no preventative legislation that will halt crypto-related money laundering activities. Featured Image Original Source:  Flickr - Great Photo By Adam Jones