The Iranian government has passed a new law that brands cryptocurrencies as illegal tender and specified that the country would not recognize any trades involving the digital currencies.
The bill was ratified by the country’s cabinet and made public on Sunday, according to a PressTV report.
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The bill detailed that neither the government nor the banking system considers digital currency as legal tender as the Central Bank of Iran does not guarantee their value.
The new law echos the warning of the deputy governor of the country’s central bank, who in July clarified that the cryptocurrency tradings are illegal in the country.
Mining cryptocurrencies is legal
The bill, however, recognized the digital currency mining industry within the country. To participate in the crypto mining business, miners need to get approval from the country’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, and the mining facilities should be established outside a perimeter of 30 km of all provincial centers.
The restrictions are more strict for mining facilities outside the capital territory of Tehran and the central city of Esfahan.
In addition, miners also need to follow strict rules set by Iran’s standardization and communications authorities for mining machines, which specified additional fees on the energy consumed for mining cryptocurrencies.
Iranian government gives massive subsidy got the consumption of household electricity and spends around $1 billion for this a year. Though the cheap electricity cost became a major factor for the boom of the crypto mining industry, it became a concern for the government.
The new law also detailed that the mining companies need to pay for the utilized energy at a price set for their export from the country.
Also, the mining companies will be taxed similar to the industrial manufacturing units, if they fail to put the profits from exporting digital currencies into Iran’s economy.