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The
order, worth $10 million, was a first step towards allowing the
country to trade through digital assets that bypass the
dollar-dominated global financial system and to trade with other
countries similarly limited by U.S. sanctions, such as Russia.
The agency didn't specify which cryptocurrency was used in the
transaction.
"By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart
contracts will be widely used in foreign trade with target
countries," an official from the Ministry of Industry, Mine and
Trade said on Twitter.
The United States imposes an almost total economic embargo on
Iran, including a ban on all imports including those from the
country's oil, banking and shipping sectors.
Last year, a study found that 4.5% of all bitcoin mining was
taking place in Iran, partly as a result of the country's cheap
electricity. The mining of cryptocurrency could help Iran earn
hundreds of millions of dollars that can be used to buy imports
and lessen the impact of sanctions.
Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are highly volatile and have
not found a widespread footing for payments.
The European Union on Monday said it put forward a "final" text
to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as four days of indirect
talks between U.S. and Iranian officials wrapped up in Vienna.
Under the 2015 agreement, Iran curbed its nuclear program in
return for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. sanctions. But former
U.S. President Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal in 2018
and restored harsh U.S. sanctions, prompting Tehran to start
violating the agreement's nuclear limits about a year later.
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom;Editing by Michael Georgy and
Bernadette Baum)
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