Cryptocurrency and blockchain industry activists raised their concerns yesterday morning, Tuesday 17 September 2024, in a brainstorming meeting with “Hossein Afshin”, Vice President for Science, Technology and Digital Economy, and “Mohammad Amin Aghamiri”, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. The common denominator of all these concerns was the complaint of the central bank’s harmful interventions in this area.
According to Iran digital economy annotation, in this meeting, “Pooria Asteraky”, the editor of the blockchain research paper, considered more than 90% of the challenges of the industry activists to be legal, governance and policy issues. Referring to Iran’s 10% share of cryptocurrency mining in 2019 and its reduction to half a percent in 2022, Asteraky said: “In this case, we saw how a policy move brought down the entire industry.”
He explained that contrary to the central bank’s claim that it is in charge of the entire field of cryptocurrencies, according to the law, these “cryptocurrencies” are under the supervision of the central bank and none of the cryptocurrencies are monetary instruments.
Asteraky went on to say: “Maybe we are the only trade union that has not received any government support, and on the other hand, since the beginning of its formation, we have been persistent that you legislate our field.”
“Abbas Ashtiani”, the head of Nasr’s Cryptocurrency Commission, while criticizing the document presented by the Central Bank for the regulation of cryptocurrencies, said: “The Central Bank has given a document for the opinions of the institutions, which the private sector had no role in drafting. This document is written in such a way that the central bank is the guardian of the entire field of crypto-assets; While this is not the case anywhere in the world.”
Ashtiani considered the central bank’s regulation in this area as unfair discrimination and suggested that the government raise its concerns and leave the solution to the private sector.
Kaveh Moshtagh, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, called the central bank’s action “a failure” and said: “About 160 businesses in this area are ready for self-regulation, but we are worried about the central bank’s actions.”
Hossein Eslami, a member of the board of the country’s computer trade union system, also said: “A decentralized problem cannot be solved by a centralized regulatory organization. “So far, many texts have been written by the government, but there has never been the courage to make a final decision.”
Cryptocurrency requirements framework forms a solid infrastructure
“Mohammad Amin Aghamiri”, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, in this meeting considered the competition between traditional and modern private sectors as a double challenge in the field of cyberspace services and said: “Preventing obstacles in the traditional sector requires the support of the government.”
He added: “Traditionally, this is a principle in the country that an executive becomes the regulator himself, and we try to manage this in the comprehensive strategic document, but changing this direction is a costly task.”
Aghamiri said about the reform of the regulatory status of cryptocurrencies: “If the requirements of the cryptocurrency section of the strategic document are approved, the parliament must legislate within the framework of these requirements, otherwise the Guardian Council will reject that law.” This framework should not be executive or too partial, but should be a macro framework that forms a solid infrastructure.
He explained about the strategic document: “The strategic document is approved by the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and was announced in September 2022. 39 systems are under this document. All these are big issues about which we have to explain the systems in the virtual space.
The secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyber Space added: “One of these systems is the cryptocurrency system, which is entrusted by the Ministry of Economy and is developed with the cooperation of other institutions.”
Aghamiri reminded that even if the regulatory bodies have the authority to legislate, before these approvals are communicated, they should be sent to the National Center for Cyberspace so that this center can check the compliance of the approvals with the policies.
According to the secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyber Space, some devices announce previous rules to bypass this path. In response to the comment of one of the attendees who said that the Central Bank has officially said that it does not pay attention to the Supreme Council’s approvals of cyber space, Aghamiri replied: “God willing, it was a mistake.”
We must give the central bank a chance
In this meeting, the Scientific Vice President also promised to negotiate at high levels to solve the problems. At the same time, Afshin stated: “We must recognize the monetary sovereignty of the country and take measures within that framework. We should also give the central bank a chance to provide the rules and conditions for accepting cryptocurrencies.”
He emphasized that he considers the Scientific Vice-Chancellor to be in charge of the coordination of various institutions in the government: “As a representative of the ecosystem of emerging innovations, I have the duty to follow up the coordination between the various institutions.”
No Comment! Be the first one.