Will Iran be the First Country to Introduce Bitcoin?

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Iran is planning to introduce Bitcoin as a currency of daily use. The government is developing the infrastructure around the country to allow this cryptocurrency to spread on its territory. The information was confirmed by the ministry of information technology.

Iran is Getting Prepared for Bitcoin Introduction

Iran, a country with an economy more than twice as big as all the cryptocurrency market could introduce Bitcoin. The Persian country could be the first to introduce Bitcoin as a means of payment and a legal tender currency.

“The ministry of communications and information technology has already conducted a number of research studies as part of the efforts to prepare the infrastructure to use Bitcoin inside the country,” Amir Hossein Davaee said in a Farsi interview with Shargh newspaper.

The main intention of the country is to develop the infrastructure that would allow Bitcoin to settle in the country. “We, as the main centre in Iran dealing with the country’s technology developments, have taken very seriously the issue of preparing the infrastructure for the new currency,” he commented.

Bitcoin Situation in Iran

There is no law regarding the status of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But the Iranian Central Bank does not consider Bitcoin as a legal currency. This situation only makes more difficult for enterprises and businesses to use Bitcoin as a means of payment. Big companies that want to transact in Bitcoins feel constrained by the government. Indeed, news.bitcoin.com reported in June that Iran’s National Centre of Cyberspace was drafting a proposal to regulate cryptocurrencies.

In addition to it, some companies in Iran don’t want to declare publicly that they have used Bitcoin. If they would say something about this, they would have to pay heavier taxes, YJC news agency explained.

The Iranian Economist Morteza Imani-Rad said that Bitcoin is not legal in Iran. “Bitcoin transactions are not legal and legally unrecognizable, so we do not expect them to have any effect on the Iranian economy.”

What it is not clear is that Iran does not explain if they want to issue a national cryptocurrency. Investing in technology to adopt a cryptocurrency means that other currencies could be adopted too.

Other Countries Using Bitcoin

Japan, at the beginning of the year, legalized Bitcoin as a means of payment. In fact, Japan is the biggest hub for Bitcoin in the world. The Japanese yen accounts for biggest trading volume in the Bitcoin market, followed by the US dollar.

The Bitcoin Embassy, where you can eat or drink a coffee talking about cryptocurrencies, is located in Netherlands. Arnhem, another Dutch city, is known as the Bitcoin City. Lots of shops, businesses and people use Bitcoin on a daily base.

In other countries like Russia or Kazakhstan, the government would like to issue a national cryptocurrency. In Russia it will be called “CryptoRuble” and it will be recognised as a legal tender currency issued by the government. In Kazakhstan, the currency has no public name yet, but it will be backed by fiat currency.

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