Iranians withdrew $2.5 billion abroad by purchasing cryptocurrency

Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's economic committee, said there is already evidence that some Iranian citizens are users of digital currencies and have more than $2.5 billion in crypto assets abroad.

According to the chairman of the economic committee of the Iranian parliament, the outflow of US$2.5 billion was used to purchase cryptocurrency abroad. 

“Iranians cannot use the international banking system, and transfers can only occur through non-traditional channels such as foreign exchange dealers or people traveling internationally.” 

The chairman's remarks followed the central bank's ban on all Iranian financial institutions conducting digital currency transactions, including Bitcoin, citing high volatility, the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing as the reason for the ban. 

But, despite the ban, the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of Iran (ICT) confirmed that (the country) is experimenting with the development of its own cryptocurrency and an experimental model is already ready. However, it has not yet been specified whether the national cryptocurrency will be backed by some kind of asset, as in Venezuela, or whether Iran will create a digital rial. 

In his interview, Pourebrahimi said that the creation of Iran's national cryptocurrency could help circumvent economic sanctions. He also noted that “future global economic activity will be conducted using digital currency.” The future of the global economy will be determined by digital currencies, but the use of decentralized digital currencies can pose serious risks to a country's banking system due to the lack of transparency and a specialized supporting structure. 

The cryptocurrency structure, according to Iranian regulators, should be applied to economic activities and at the same time be recognized internationally. 

Purebrahimi believes that one of the advantages of cryptocurrency is that it “would not be regulated by the United States,” and he admits that this could help circumvent sanctions. At the same time, US President Trump has already announced that he will withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement established in 2015 and will renew sanctions on oil exports to Iran.