Newsworthy: Iran develops its own cryptocurrency... and it really bothers me. [Opinion]

Hi fellow steemians!

Many of you probably heard Iran has recently banned cryptocurrency trading after its national currency, the rial, crashed. Some of you probably also heard that Iran is developing its own cryptocurrency which won't be subject to its own regulation (Iran's Central Bank's ban doesn't apply to local cryptocurrencies).

I find this really disturbing.

It defeats the purpose of cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is supposed to be a digital asset that is decentralized without the control of governments. That is the point of blockchain and thus cryptocurrency. With the government releasing its own version of cryptocurrency, how can this be called a cryptocurrency? It's simply a digital currency issued by the government. A type of money that we already have and use but without paper and coins. Nothing about this currency sounds like blockchain technology.

It's a government-controlled currency, thus making it just another national currency in disguise.

As discussed above, what I've heard about this new "cryptocurrency" sounds nothing like what it's meant to be. Iran developed it to evade US sanctions and to avoid another disaster if its current currency, the rial, crashes again. Then doesn't this just make it a Rial 2.0? Iranian government is simply issuing existing money that's disguised as cryptocurrency.

The purpose of it makes it useless and problemetic.

Iran developed this new crypto to evade another fallout of US sanctions, as financial regulatory bodies cannot supervise them. So in essence, it sounds like Iran plans to have its people use this new cryptocurrency among themselves or possible use it among countries who oppose the US. That sounds like trouble doesn't it? It almost sounds like Iran is creating its own black market.

This creates a massive problem for cryptocurrency market

Unfortunately other governments are said to be developing similar cryptocurrencies. I find it disturbing and it may have the possibility of abolishing the currency cryptocurrency market as we know today. Governments have control of their own cryptos and may eventually create regulations where the cryptos of today, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, may have to be overseen by governments too. If this situation is creates, it eliminates the 'blockchain' aspect of cryptocurrency making it useless. We will have to see how governments implement their new cryptocurrencies first though.

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Conclusion

To be honest, I don't have quite enough information about this new currency to give a full and detailed opinion, but I've written my ideas from the information I've seen. All in all, I believe Iran may just be the first of many nations to develop its own cryptocurrency. I just hope it doesn't lead to the worst scenario for global crypto market.

What do you think about Iran's plans? Let me know!

Story source: BTC Manager
Image sources: Forbes & Wikipedia