Iran Should Mine Crypto to Skirt Sanctions, Says President-Linked Think Tank

An Iranian think tank associated with the office of President Hassan Rouhani has called for the nation to mine cryptocurrency in order to help the economy amid tough international sanctions.

The Iranian Presidential Center for Strategic Studies report says "cryptocurrency extraction" could provide economic benefits to several different sectors of the troubled economy, according to Iran Wire.

The industry could generate $2 million a day and $700 million a year in revenue from mining, while revenues from transaction fees could generate $22 million, the think tank says.

"If large mining farms are established, the need to employ manpower for monitoring and repair, security, electrical engineers, and technical staff related to hardware and software equipment will increase, which leads to more job opportunities in other sectors," the authors write.

Another key point made by the think tank is that bitcoin, in particular, could help circumvent sanctions on Iran.

Read more: Inside Iran’s Onslaught on Bitcoin Mining

"As the newly extracted bitcoins are not easily traceable, despite the pressure of sanctions on the country, domestic economic actors can use newly-extracted cryptocurrencies, which are preferable to existing bitcoins, on international exchanges," they said.

Recently, Iran has already been trying to make cryptocurrency mining a source of income for the state, while cracking down on independent miners whom it blames for recent power outages.