Persia and Bitcoin

The famous cryptocurrency is on the rise in Iran. At a time when the giants of international finance are speaking out to warn of the risks and volatility of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is being validated as collateral in Iranian marriage contracts in place of bullion and cash. This shows how well it is integrated into the country’s financial system.

According to Bitooda, a digital currency research firm, Iran is the third country in the world for Bitcoin mining, after China and America.
Nearly 2 million of this currency, the most famous currency used in the digital currency market, has been mined and deposited in Iranians’ “wallets”, virtual wallets.

Iran, one of the most economically sanctioned countries in the world, has seized the opportunity of cryptocurrencies to circumvent the economic blockade. And Iranian youth, hit hard by unemployment, have found a possible source of income and daily occupation.

Since 2014, Bitcoin has gradually entered unofficial transactions, a choice for thousands of families
Iranian women wanting to send money to their children living abroad, or it is used for some kind of business transaction.

Mining farms have sprung up in the country, illegally imported mining devices are installed in old factories and disused garages. A further consequence of the sanctions crippling the Iranian economy.
Industry, the flagship of the economy for a while, replaced by modern factories fed by the virtual.

It was in these most remote places, in apartment rooms, or under the banisters that the first Bitcoins were generated.
Since 2015 these “farms” have been expanding more and more to barter cheap electricity in exchange for an encrypted code ready to be cashed with a single swipe of a finger.

A whole new market has emerged, from traffickers of “mining devices” to electrical technicians, to cable vendors and appliance repairers. A parallel network, an underground economy, having started autonomously and wildly, escaping government control.

The old dream of the treasure hunter has just come true and the “mining devices” are running at full speed to exploit their devices and decrypt the maximum number of valid blocks and thus pocket the jackpot.

Deep in the Iranian soul lies an intuition for scenting out opportunities and getting rich or fattening one’s heritage. They were able to take advantage of the depths of the oil wells. The Iranian people easily engage in risky businesses, such as tightrope walkers. The Iranian economy suffers from permanent inflation since the revolution, derived from international economic sanctions, and speculation is a second job for almost all Iranians, an example is: the frenzy of pyramid systems of all kinds that have pulverized the savings of many families in the 2010s.

Bitcoin is well established and present in the lives of Iranians at the most contested moment in its history. They ride this wave while waiting to see better days …