Iran could introduce state-backed cryptocurrency

Summary:

• Being pushed to the wall by US sanctions, Iran could introduce its own cryptocurrency to circumvent these limits

• Russia could raise addition $1 billion in taxes by using its excess energy generating capacity to mine digital coins

• Litecoin trades at the key support

The cryptocurrency market has not shown too many moves of note so far today. Anyway, the Bitcoin price is falling roughly 1% at the time of writing extending its moderate declines seen on Monday. In today’s newsflow we want to focus on two major topics deserving more attention in our eyes.

After the United States imposed punitive sanctions against Iran, Iran-based companies are struggling to run their business activities on a regular basis and the ability of financial institutions to conduct transactions with the world has been shackled since then. However, the country could ease their companies by issuing its state-backed cryptocurrency. This step would help abate some of the effects of the sanctions. Moreover, the Iranian government informed that it expected to make an announcement concerning the digital asset at the annual Electronic Banking and Payment Systems Conference. The event kicks off in Tehran on January 29. Let us remind that the US sanctions were introduced in the middle of 2018 over malign activities being carried out by Iran. According to Al Jazeera the state-backed digital currency is to be rolled out in two phases. “The first will be a crypto Rial, which will be used for making payments between Iranian-based commercial banks and other internal organizations in the domestic crypto space. Public access to the currency is expected to come at a later phase, as this will help members of the general public to make payments for local goods and services.”, as CCN reports.

Litecoin is trading close to its trend line. If bears push further, it could result in a breakdown of this line allowing the price to fall toward $22. Source: xStation5

According to estimations presented in a report following the study conducted by industrial mining solutions provider Bitcluster, Russia could raise more than $1 billion in annual tax revenue by using its excess energy generating capacity to mine cryptocurrencies. Russia’s electrical surplus last year reached 20 GW. The researchers also call for the establishment of a crypto valley for Russian miners. As per their estimations, this investment would require only $15 million. Bitcluster believes that there are enough mining companies and entities in Russia being ready to invest in such a project.