Iranian Banks Launch Their Own Cryptocurrency

irania crypto

Amrit Mirchandani

February 7, 2019

Iran’s heavy sanctions by the United States have led them to sort various means of cross border transactions. Cryptocurrency which is known to speed up transactions with low fees with no restrictions has been highly appreciated in Iran as a result.

The latest digital currency news from the Middle Eastern country is the launch of a gold-backed cryptocurrency. It is a joint project which includes four Iranian banks namely Bank Melli, Parsian Bank, Bank Mellat and Bank Pasargad. The Blockchain startup Kuknos will help them carry out the technical functionalities for the project.

As per details, it will be called PayMon, and it will have a billion tokens issued at the first stage. It will be used to tokenize banks’ assets and properties. Iran Fara Bourse, which is an over-the-counter (OTC) crypto exchange is expected to use the token.

Iran’s Current Cryptocurrency Status

Iran has continuously made headlines within the cryptocurrency community of launching their own national cryptocurrency.  However, things have still not been confirmed.

US lawmakers had caught on to the news and introduced a bill against Iran’s sovereign cryptocurrency last month.

While last week the Central Bank issued a report stating to block the use of unapproved cryptocurrencies as payment.

Nevertheless, Reports indicate that Iran is negotiating with several countries like Switzerland, France, and Germany to carry out cryptocurrency transactions.

Will PayMon succeed?

Iran’s gold backed cryptocurrency Paymon looks to be following the footsteps of Venezuela’s infamous Petro. The massive oil reserves of Venezuela apparently back Petro. However, the usage of Petro is seen to be falsified. It is hardly used, with no tapping into oil reserves and neither is it found on cryptocurrency exchanges or even accepted by retailers.

With American sanctions against Venezuela, and Donald Trump banning people from buying or using the Petro, it will be equally hard for the Iranian PayMon to survive. It will be interesting to see how Cryptocurrency will be utilized efficiently to help the Middle Eastern nation which has faced economic losses due to American sanctions.

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