[2018-05-11] Iran Turns to Bitcoin in Preparation for Renewed U.S. Sanctions

[BitcoinArsenal]

Iran is facing renewed sanctions from the United States which could signal the start of new economic problems. There are also reports that the Iranian government is looking to create a state-owned cryptocurrency. Full article on Bitcoinist

[Schirer]

I do not see how stated owned crypto could help, How it is different from state owned FIAT?
there would be very little if any support outside the country.

Maybe if it would be correlated to other crypto or backed by other crypto.

That being said, this in mind is the bad side of cryptos when such countries as Iran can bypass sanctions.

[audaciousbeing]

Iran is facing renewed sanctions from the United States which could signal the start of new economic problems. There are also reports that the Iranian government is looking to create a state-owned cryptocurrency. Full article on Bitcoinist

Its like the person advising them towards the creation of crypto currency is advising them wrongly because when sanction comes especially from countries like the United States, it comes hard that hit the fabric of their whole economic system down to the common man on the street and any method or policy to reduce the effect is something that would have been prepared for long before the time of the sanction and not now. They are not even considering bitcoin, they are planning to launch their own currency, what different will it make other than what they are facing with the currency they are currently using.

Another reason why this is ill advised is because to say they are able to create their own crypto currency, how would they roll out the training and workshop, infrastructure that would serve the whole country without involving external companies and consultants which would be paid in foreign currency or citizens of the country that is sanctioning them. Either way, to look at it, the effect will be massive.

[buwaytress]

The govt may not be considering Bitcoin, or it may be, I have a feeling the state crypto talk is a bit of a smokescreen. There's been a good, longstanding underground movement for Bitcoin in Iran for quite a long while - and Telegram is still very active there as is the bots used on that app. We've also got solid devs like Amir Taaki who've been doing his cypherpunkery and Bitcoin advocacy there for many years.

Necessity, desperation, tough times. The mothers of invention.

[darkangel11]

Iran is going towards a serious armed conflict, but it's not their fault. The Jews are bombarding everyone in that area, Palestine, Syria, and now they are in conflict with Iran that supposedly attacked them with missiles. I hope they become a huge international cryptocurrency hub, as that's what Jewish bankers who are controlling a vast majority of fiat money in the world wouldn't like.

[hatshepsut93]

The govt may not be considering Bitcoin, or it may be, I have a feeling the state crypto talk is a bit of a smokescreen.

Right, sanctioned countries often talk about launching their own crypto to allegedly circumvent sanctions, but Venezuela's example clearly shows that it can't work - other countries are not accepting new state-owned coin, traders don't buy it and countries that impose sanctions quickly prohibit any deals with those new coins for their citizens.

[Samarkand]

The govt may not be considering Bitcoin, or it may be, I have a feeling the state crypto talk is a bit of a smokescreen.

Right, sanctioned countries often talk about launching their own crypto to allegedly circumvent sanctions, but Venezuela's example clearly shows that it can't work - other countries are not accepting new state-owned coin, traders don't buy it and countries that impose sanctions quickly prohibit any deals with those new coins for their citizens.

I´m not sure if the Petro issued by Venezuela is really a great example. After all
they completely botched the launch when it wasn´t even clear to potential users whether the Petro
was based on Ethereum or on NEM. Maybe the Petro would have seen more
acceptance by other countries if the launch wouldn´t have been such a train wreck.

Imagine if a country like Russia issues an own cryptocurrency and launches it
after really making sure that the project is solid. Let´s imagine they give other countries
a discount initially when they pay for oil or gas using the new cryptocurrency. A cryptocurrency
launched in a matter like this would be a giant success. Venezuela just managed to
make too many mistakes in the way they launched the Petro.

I wouldn´t rule out a successful state-owned cryptocurrency just yet
after the failure of the Petro.

[Karartma1]

The govt may not be considering Bitcoin, or it may be, I have a feeling the state crypto talk is a bit of a smokescreen. There's been a good, longstanding underground movement for Bitcoin in Iran for quite a long while - and Telegram is still very active there as is the bots used on that app. We've also got solid devs like Amir Taaki who've been doing his cypherpunkery and Bitcoin advocacy there for many years.

Necessity, desperation, tough times. The mothers of invention.

When one is confronted with no much choice what can be done? As you said is a matter of necessity and desperation sometimes. I think the world is full of these underground movements for Bitcoin, and that is good. We need more of that actually but we need people genuinely interested in knowing about bitcoin's tech

[cetald]

I do not think that the creation of a national cryptocurrency will solve the problem. If the government of Iran regulates this cryptocurrency, it will be in demand only within the country. It will be an analogue of the national currency. Iran will have problems with international payments.

[thefaucetrunner]

I do not see how stated owned crypto could help, How it is different from state owned FIAT?
there would be very little if any support outside the country.

Maybe if it would be correlated to other crypto or backed by other crypto.

That being said, this in mind is the bad side of cryptos when such countries as Iran can bypass sanctions.

It is a gimmick they can use to try to use to pretend that it's not covered by the sanctions.

[gabbie2010]

With the price recent waves of dwindling economies of some countries due to the crash in the price of crude, devaluation of their currencies and sanctions imposed on them  the alternative route for those countries is cryptocurrencies examples are Venezuela, Zimbabwe and presently Iran is seeking Cryptos to cushion the effect of these sanctions this is a subtle way of diversifying their economies towards a sustainable development without any effect of the sanctions.

[BitHodler]

We need more of that actually but we need people genuinely interested in knowing about bitcoin's tech

It's difficult to demand from people that they will dive into Bitcoin's technical side. After all the years the majority of the people don't even understand what the internet actually is.

As long as people know that Bitcoin is a decentralized currency tool and people use it as such, that can be seen as a great achievement already. Mass adoption is the only thing that we should care about.

People use basic email applications by the billions, but don't know anything about the underlying protocols. The only thing we need are basic level applications making use and further adoption of Bitcoin easier.