A proposal of seeking public private partnership has been offered by the national blockchain association of Iran to the Iranian Government wherein the association has offered its expert services, knowledge and professional expertise to be utilized by the government functionaries responsible for preparing the much-awaited crypto regulations.
The association claims that the people working on the regulations lack the required knowledge and expertise and therefore the regulations, if prepared, would not be comprehensive and resultantly would fail to fulfill the desired objectives. Iran Blockchain Association (IBA) is Iran’s private association which looks after the day-to-day workings and affairs of country’s crypto industry.
However, since the authority is non-governmental, therefore, it has limited powers and restricted scope. It can however issue policy guidelines to the crypto businesses in Iran but cannot wield any power on crypto investors/owners. Even if it decides to ban crypto trading in Iran, it simply cannot do so because it is not a regulator. The financial and virtual asset regulating authority in the country is the “Central Bank of Iran (CBI)”.
Currently, Iran through CBI wishes to introduce crypto regulations in the interest of crypto/mining industry and investors. The task has been officially entrusted to CBI and the people in CBI are presently working on the possible regulatory framework. However, they have been taking time and according to some of the Iranian crypto experts, too much time has been wasted. Yet the country’s digital asset market is proceeding and expanding without any framework.
IBA has been seen recently criticizing the people working on the draft regulations and simultaneously presenting a proposal. IBA stated that CBI certainly lacks the knowledge and expertise to draft crypto regulations. In this situation, CBI’s efforts would be in futile as they cannot produce a document which can be regarded as “crypto regulations”. CBI would therefore need to think outside the box and develop an independent council comprising private members, particularly from IBA.
From the statement of IBA, it is evident that IBA has offered its services to CBI voluntarily. IBA has further stated that CBI would need to seriously consider the offer of entering into a public private partnership. Otherwise, even if the regulations are prepared, they wouldn’t be comprehensive and consequently would fail to fulfill desired results.
Similarly, CBI also claimed that the country’s Security & Exchange Organization too is not equipped to deal with issues relating to crypto. Virtual asset industry is a multi-dimensional industry with issues that neither CBI nor Security & Exchange Organization have ever faced.
IBA reminded both the regulators that Iran’s crypto industry involves trillions of dollar worth virtual assets. There are more than 11 million Iranians holding these assets and millions of dollars trade is going on every day. So a rather cautious approach is needed from the regulators’ end, warned IBA.
