Iran Ceased 9000 Bank Accounts For Suspicious Trading Activities

Iran froze 9,219 bank accounts belonging to 545 people, worth about $2 billion (60 trillion Iranian tomans), over suspicious foreign exchange and crypto transactions. Iran also ceased nearly 7,000 unauthorized cryptocurrency mining centers.

As a part of the Iranian government’s recent plan to combat illegal foreign currency and cryptocurrency trading, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence collaborated with the country’s central bank to take action against the offenders.

The Iranian State News Agency (IRNA) issued a statement claiming that currency exchanges, banks, and credit institutions “should avoid any sale or purchase of these currencies or taking any action to promote them.”

Iran’s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (Tavanir) has also reported that unlicensed Iranian crypto miners consumed 645 megawatts of electricity resulting in an electricity shortage within the country.

With the fear of a crippling economy due to the country’s currency recently hitting an all-time low and the US reinstating sanctions, this ban on trading and promoting cryptocurrency is presumably a shot by the government to dam anxious traders from dodging the country’s currency in favor of cryptocurrency.

Previously, China has also adopted similar tactics and cited “financial risks” as the reason for the virtual currency trading ban or ICOs, although the volatility of Iran’s currency is of different orders.

In other news, The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sought to ban celebrity endorsement of crypto products and suggested that the advertisement’s disclosure should also talk about possible violations of laws.

To date, cryptocurrency is not regulated in India and has been named Virtual Digital Assets (VDA) for taxation purposes only.