Iran importers association has called on the government to establish stable laws in order to enable them to use cryptocurrency payment in the nation’s international trade.
The chairman of Iran’s Importers Group and Representatives of Foreign Companies (Import Association), Alireza Managhebi, was quoted in local media on August 20 as stressing the need for reliable infrastructure and laws in order to properly use cryptocurrency for imports:
“The question is, has the government developed consistent regulations for the cryptocurrency uses so that they will not change within two months and the businessmen active in this field will not be harmed?”
Managhebi questioned the notion that the formal use of cryptocurrencies for imports would end the dominance of the dollar in the Iranian market and emphasized a potential danger posed by the new payment method: the formation of rent-seeking corporate organizations.
Iran ordered its first overseas import on August 10 using cryptocurrency valued at $10 million. Peyman-Pak stated that the $10 million order represents the first of many international trades to be settled with cryptocurrency, despite the official withholding of any information regarding the cryptocurrency used or the imported products involved.
The Islamic country is ready to accept cryptocurrency as early as 2017. It revised previously published regulations to permit cryptocurrencies to be used for funding imports in October 2020.
Iranian miners received 30 operating licenses from the Iranian Trade Ministry in June 2021 to mine cryptocurrencies, which must subsequently be sold to Iran’s national bank. Iran is currently paying import bills with the currencies it created.
