Saeed Zarandi, Iran’s assistant minister of industry, trade and supply has claimed the United States is working to stop Iran from mining cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
According to news platform, Al-Fars, Zarandi claimed the U.S. Congress believes cryptocurrencies are a tool that can be used to evade sanctions and launder money, and is therefore working to “prevent the production of digital currency in Iran.”
On how cryptocurrencies are seen in the Iran, Zarandi noted that several Iranian ministries are working with the country’s central bank to settle the issue. As covered, last year the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) came for Iran for allegedly using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.
The organization at the time admitted that the use of cryptocurrencies was “comparatively small” in the country, identifying “at least $3.8 million worth of bitcoin-denominated transactions per year” from the country since 2013.
Iran’s central bank announced the launch of a national gold-backed cryptocurrency called PayMon. Details on the cryptocurrency and its use are not really handy for now. The founder of Iranian blockchain company ArzDigital during an interview revealed it’s based on the Stellar Lumens (XLM) network.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been rising as Iran last month downed a U.S. drone claiming it entered its airspace.