Iran relaxes controls as it turns to crypto for foreign trade

00:00 Speaker A

Iran eases currency controls to let traders bring earnings home in crypto from the Financial Times. Exporters can use overseas earnings to fund imports directly, bypassing the official foreign exchange system, the FT reported.

00:16 Speaker A

So they're relaxing their currency controls to help exporters bring foreign earnings home, which is a huge story when we know that one of the main uses of crypto, whether we like it or not, is to give people ways to move money outside of the normal financial system and to evade sanctions, right?

00:41 Speaker A

I mean crypto is for everybody, that can include your enemies like Iran and North Korea, but we've seen stories gloating on the news very regularly about how much crypto has been frozen, how they've sanctioned all the exchanges, how using Tether, they've been able to freeze massive accounts that are attached to the regime.

01:04 Speaker A

Well, there are still plenty of ways that the Iranian government is using or allowing, I should say, the use of crypto to circumvent those uh, those those sanctions.

01:17 Speaker A

So, exporters here will be allowed to use open market mechanisms including cryptocurrencies to finance certain inpoints, imports, primarily with Bitcoin and Tether because those can move value through trading corridors corridors where sanctions restrict access to correspondent banks and conventional payment systems.