[2018-01-05] Iranian Bitcoin Adoption Surges Amid Political Protests and Censors

[moriskarlov]

Iranian Bitcoin Adoption Surges Amid Political Protests and Censorship

Reports are indicating that Iranian bitcoin adoption is continuing to grow despite the current political turmoil gripping the nation.

Bitcoin Adoption Grows Despite Government Censorship of Online Networks

Iran has witnessed widespread protests for the last week, with the media reporting that more than 20 individuals have been killed so far during the demonstrations. The protests have been attributed to popular dissatisfaction with high unemployment, inequality, housing costs, and other economic strains.

The rebellion has seen the deployment of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in three provinces, and censorship of numerous online networks – including Telegram and Signal. Despite the restricted access and rolling internet blackouts, Iran’s cryptocurrency community appears to be gaining strength during the turmoil.

Iranians Turn to Cryptocurrency as Safeguard Against Economic Uncertainty

Tehran-based blockchain researcher, Ziya Sadr, recently discussed both the protests and cryptocurrency in Iran with media, stating “I hold all my money, all my capital, in bitcoin mostly and some other altcoins… The reason that I hold only crypto is because of the economic situation in Iran.” Mr. Sadr stated that he has “seen people around me doing so gradually,” and expects that “more and more people will do so.” Mr. Sadr also stated that Monero is one his favored altcoins, owing to its enhanced privacy capabilities. Mr. Sadr added that privacy-centric cryptocurrencies have yet to garner widespread popularity in Iran largely due to the government having taken no overt actions indicating that it would seek to prohibit bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Mr. Sadr stated Iran’s cryptocurrency community possesses the experience, skills, and resources required to weather the government’s moves to censor online activities, stating “Last week the [internet] connection is horrible. You can’t get signal anywhere. It’s mostly [bad] internet connections. But sometimes it’s phones too. It is really confusing for normal people. They don’t know how to communicate in the past few days. Although most [tech-savvy] Iranians are well equipped for such blockages because we’ve been dealing with social media blocks for a long time.”

Iran Witnesses Record Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Trading Volume

Data published by Coindance indicates that peer-to-peer trade between the Iranian rial (IRR) and bitcoin witnessed record volume during the build-up to Iran’s protests over recent weeks. The record 70+ billion IRR worth of bitcoin traded during the week of the 23rd of December comprised more than a 1000% increase in volume when compared to markets’ preceding record of 6.3 billion IRR from early November. Mr. Sadr also stated that Iranian peer-to-peer bitcoin trade has surged amid the turmoil, adding “A few days ago we bought 100 bitcoins in the morning and we sold them by noon.”

One Iranian posting on Twitter chose to incorporate the topic of cryptocurrency into a political slogan, posting “In the protests you should chant: Citizens, citizens, exchange your money for litecoin.”

Source link: https://news.bitcoin.com/iranian-bitcoin-adoption-surges-amid-political-protests-censorship/

[BitHodler]

It has been clear that economical difficulties result in surging Bitcoin volumes in peer to peer markets. Recent examples are Venezuela and Zimbabwe that have been showing similar growth in Bitcoin adoption.

I like how Bitcoin offers people a safe haven asset in case they need it, especially when it's meant to function as hedge against their economy and to obtain financial freedom, which is something they don't have right now.

I remember having read an article recently about how the Iranian government was looking to implement Bitcoin in various ways. Not sure if we'll be hearing anything from this again, but it was probably fake news anyway.

[Kemarit]

Yes, this would be another use case added to bitcoin as hedge against economic turmoil. We have seen Venezuelan's survived because of bitcoins. Most of them who are into crypto takes advantages of its p2p, but ordering basic needs to be delivered to them. Same case with Zimbabwe, that's why you can find bitcoin at a premium price in their local trading platform if I'm not mistaken. Most of them pour their cash into the ecosystem as leverage to the growing economic crisis. Now we have seen Iran, do the same. Bitcoin is now becoming a hedge, similar to Gold now.

One Iranian posting on Twitter chose to incorporate the topic of cryptocurrency into a political slogan, posting “In the protests you should chant: Citizens, citizens, exchange your money for litecoin.”

LOL. Maybe during the height of LTC Iranians are one factor that really pushing its price. However, they should invest to either Bitcoin and Ethereum and so some extend Ripple as well. 

[Samarkand]

...Same case with Zimbabwe, that's why you can find bitcoin at a premium price in their local trading platform if I'm not mistaken. ...

For a certain timeframe the Bitcoin price in Zimbabwe was more than 100% over the
price at US-based Bitcoin exchanges.

However, I think this is only partly caused
by the reasons you mention. It is also a result of the fact that it is incredibly difficult to get an
account at one of these exchanges as a foreigner. Therefore effectively arbitrage is impossible,
which causes this huge price discrepancies to continue that would otherwise be corrected
by people doing arbitrage.