Iran May Fund Car Imports With Cryptocurrency Mining

With Iran's national currency, the rial, suffering from hyperinflation, some in the nation are proposing locally mined cryptocurrency might be a way to fund car imports.

• ArzDigital reported that Gholam Hossein Mozaffari, CEO of the Kish Free Zone Organization, said he hopes an agreement will be reached with the central bank to use cryptocurrency produced in Iran to fund imports.
• The Central Bank of Iran had told the organization that because of currency inflation and the current economic conditions in the country it could not provide the funding needed, Mozaffari said.
• "Our next suggestion was that we would provide the required currency through the digital currency produced in the free zones, the origin and amount of which are known, and do not put any pressure on the country's currency," he said.
• According to reports three weeks ago, inflation in Iran had reached as high as 30% year on year.
• U.S.-led sanctions against the nation, as well as endemic corruption and economic mismanagement, are cited as being major factors behind the high inflation level.
• According to Mozaffari, cryptocurrencies are already being mined on Kish Island and he hopes to soon meet with the head of the central bank to discuss the possibility of using that income to fund the auto imports.
• He would also call on the private sector to launch a cryptocurrency exchange, he said.
• "If the central bank allows this, it [would be] possible to import cars with digital currency for these three free zones, and the car problem can be solved."
• Amid the hyperinflation, Iran's government has been moving to permit cryptocurrency mining, under certain restrictions, to bring in much-needed foreign capital.
• In May, President Hassan Rouhani ordered the government to draw up a renewed national approach for the growing industry.

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