Foreign media: Iran plans to legalize cryptocurrency and may even start mining

According to trustnodes, local media quoted Fars News as saying that the Iranian parliament has set up a secret working group.

Abolhassan Firouzabadi, chairman of the High Committee for Cyberspace, said: “The final decision has not been made yet, but a working group of the Majlis Social Council is looking into setting up online trading of virtual currencies, mining of virtual currencies and which currencies will be declared legal.”

Mining cryptocurrencies could refer to businesses or citizens doing so, rather than the government itself, but that is unclear. However, what is clear is that cryptocurrencies appear to be high on the agenda in Iran, including for the president himself. Apparently, Firouzabadi attended a Saturday meeting hosted by President Hassan Rouhani to discuss “cryptocurrencies in the national economy.”

Discussions included Iran’s own plans for what sounded like oil-backed government bonds, similar to Venezuela’s petro, and further discussion of using “foreign cryptocurrencies,” which they likely meant were Bitcoin or Ethereum running on a global network.