PANews reported on December 9 that according to Bitcoin.com, economist Mohammad Sadegh Alhosseini said that Iran holds cryptocurrencies worth between $30 billion and $50 billion, accounting for about one-third of the country's gold market. Iran's daily cryptocurrency trading volume is about $143 million (100 trillion rials).

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the Ministry of Finance are developing measures to increase transparency in the cryptocurrency market, which has been used to circumvent U.S. sanctions on international banking. On Saturday, the CBI published a policy paper aimed at bringing cryptocurrency trading in line with Iran’s anti-money laundering and tax laws.

Alhosseini warned that tighter regulation could expose companies that evade sanctions to U.S. penalties, which would make the CBI liable. He suggested that private entities could play a role in organizing the market and reducing the risk of direct government oversight.