Iran has just launched the ‘PayMon’, a gold-backed national cryptocurrency. The new coin was named after the Persian word for ‘covenant,’ and was launched in collaboration with four Iranian banks and the Ghoghnoos Company. The move follows international sanctions, which have weakened the Iranian economy in recent years.
The four banks that helped launch the new coin are Bank Mellat, Bank Melli Iran, Bank Pasargad, and Parsian Bank. Ghoghnoos Company specializes in the tokenization of assets, and has worked closely with the aforementioned banks to create the new coin. PayMon could help Iranian businesses circumvent sanctions by conducting transactions in the cryptocurrency. So far, even the governments of the largest economies in the world have not been able to effectively regulate cryptocurrencies. Therefor, PayMon could present an opportunity for the Iranian government and businesses to lessen the effects that sanctions have had on the country’s economy.
The statement revealing the launch of the new national cryptocurrency also revealed that they will initially release one billion tokens. The Central Bank of Iran will then issue PayMon to all registered citizens. The Iranian Central Bank just recently recognized BTC (Bitcoin) as a legal asset, so the crypto revolution has reached Iran in earnest. Iran is now the second country under US sanctions to launch a cryptocurrency after Venezuela launched the “Petro”.
