Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
May 01, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- It was reported today
that Venezuela’s no longer the
only country with a near-working cryptocurrency. This Saturday,
a Reuters
report confirmed that Iran has an effective
beta-version of a state crypto-currency ready for tested
usage.
The government has elaborated on
this by first stating terming it a “digital currency,” and not a
“crypto currency.” Secondly, they made clear that it intends to be
“cloud-based,” which seems to mean that its blockchain network will
be held in a cloud and may not be fully decentralized.
Apparently, despite this seeming to
indicate a looming, Iranian cryptocurrency in the near future, the
Iranian government refused to confirm whether or not its
proprietary currency would be made public. Secondly, they declined
to comment as to whether the crypto-coin would be issued
by Post
Bank. Post Bank is already, effectively a key partner in
the state’s development of the aforementioned
cryptocurrency but they are
effectively owned by the Iranian government.
In opposition to the consideration
related to Post Bank, there exists the current state of the Iranian
economy, which most recently included 42,000 Iranian
rials equaling 1 US dollar.
With such an unstable currency, it
seems to be clear that a digital currency that caters to widespread
adoption could be an effective stopgap. Even so, with the
government’s relative silence related to details, it’s unclear just
how experimental this currency is meant to be. It could be just
another play by banks to dip their toes in the water without diving
in head on. The project might not even have the aim of ever being
market-ready.
With reports of comparisons already
being made to Venezuela’s controversial state-crypto called the
Petro and the falling rial, the Iranian government is already
walking a fine line with their citizens and the world-at-large by
even announcing a state-crypto.
It remains to be seen whether
state-run blockchain projects of any kind can succeed but for this
one to do so, it may have to gain initial support from other
countries which are already leaders in the space. To do so, a
relative level of decentralization is key but
to date, no cryptocurrency has wanted to figure out exactly what
this level is.
Overarching all of this is the fact
that Iran apparently
banned all financial institutions that deal in its
national markets from working with cryptocurrencies. With all of
this in mind, the entire project seems to be a gamble, at best, as
of now.
By: BGN Editorial Staff