Iran has resorted to a new crypto currency regulation that required licensing bitcoin miners to sell their coins directly to the Central Bank for use to fund imports.
Reports published by bitcoins.com said the Iranian government has amended its crypto currency regulation to enable the country’s central bank to fund imports with bitcoin legally mined in the country.
Also, the IRNA news agency reported that the government has introduced those regulations in order to allow crypto miners to redirect their coins to the country’s finance mechanism for international trades.
“The Ministry of Energy is tasked with defining a ceiling for output of authorized crypto units subject to the energy consumed by each unit. Miners’ output should not exceed the ceiling,” the news agency wrote, adding that the central bank will soon announce details of the new law.
Meanwhile, the Mehr news agency quoted Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, deputy head of Iran’s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (Tavanir) and the spokesperson for the power industry, as saying: “These crypto currencies can be exchanged according to the regulations set by the central bank.”
Presstv, an Iranian state-owned news network, said that miners are supposed to supply the original crypto currency directly and within the authorized limit to the channels introduced by the central bank.
“The legal cap for the amount of crypto currency for each miner would be determined by the level of the subsidized energy used for mining and based on instructions published by the Ministry of the Energy,” it said.
Crypto currency analyst Alireza Shamkhi told ISNA news agency that the new law is vague and ambiguous.
He said it does not state how the central bank will price crypto currencies or the exchange rate between dollars and rials.
Previously, miners could exchange their crypto currencies for dollars, rials or other currencies at market prices.
“The requirement for miners to report their output to the central bank is not seen in other industries, concluding that the new law will likely reduce the industry’s attractiveness and significantly lower miners’ profit margin,” said Shamkhi.
Iran has issued over 1,000 licenses to crypto miners, including one to the Turkish bitcoin mining giant Iminer.
