In May of this year, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would pull America out of the 2015 nuclear arms agreement with Iran. Trump also announced that he would place sanctions on Iran “at the highest level.” The sanctions state that effective in August, Iran will no longer be able to buy or receive US dollars. Furthermore, the sanctions say that Iran will face restrictions with investing in its oil projects and restrictions on oil being purchased from them.
In response to this, Iran is planning to “create an indigenous cryptocurrency” that could not only assist the country with cross-border transactions but also “help [them] at the time of sanctions.” The Central Bank of Iran will oversee the development of the cryptocurrency, which will be a stable coin pegged to the Iranian “rial.” According to the Directorate for Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Presidential Office, Iran is home to many companies with the skills required to develop a digital currency for the country.
This is not the first time that a country has looked to cryptocurrency to avoid American-imposed sanctions. Russia and Venezuela have also expressed interest in avoiding American sanctions via home-made cryptocurrencies. These countries are realizing the advantage of the decentralized nature of this nascent tech. It seems that an ever-increasing amount of countries are starting to see the benefits offered by a decentralized currency.
