- Around 1000 miners from two mining farms were seized in abandoned factories in Iran last week.
- A representative from the Central Bank of Iran said that Bitcoin is banned due to high volatility and legal risks.
Tasnim, an Iranian news agency has reported that Iranian authorities have officially banned Bitcoin trading in the country. Nasser Hakimi, the deputy governor of new technologies of the Central Bank of Iran has confirmed that BTC transactions are indisputably illegal in the nation.
Hakimi warned people that they must not be fooled by Bitcoin-related advertisers and its “pyramid style networks” which promote Bitcoins like “a tree with gold coins in the Adventures of Pinocchio.” He also informed the reporters that the Supreme Council on Countering Money Laundering has already come to a decisive conclusion that Bitcoin trading is now illegal. Hakimi has asked users to stay away from Bitcoin due to its volatile nature and legal risks.
Interestingly, this new update comes at a time when Iran has been furthering its crackdown on cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. Due to cheap electricity costs, some Bitcoin miners have migrated to Iran in the past few years. Recently, two major mining farms in abandoned factories were shut down by the state, seizing around 1,000 miners. As the Bitcoin mining farms have caused a seven percent uptick of power consumption in the country, Iranian authorities have accused Chinese miners of taking advantage and exploiting the country’s relatively cheap electricity.
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