Tagged: iran

December 22, 2018 @ 5:08 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Republican Senator for Texas Ted Cruz and Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, introduced a new bill into the American Senate and House Thursday, a bill designed to “impose maximum financial pressure on Iran. The “Blocking Iranian Illicit Finance Act” (H.R.7321) was also co-sponsored… Read More

December 5, 2018 @ 7:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

US Department of the Treasury Under Secretary, Sigal Mandelker, told attendees of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference this week that she expects to cooperate with financial institutions to enhance their illicit finance countermeasures: “We encourage the private sector…to stay proactive and to innovate with new… Read More

November 30, 2018 @ 12:37 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned the Bitcoin addresses of two Iranians the office says processed Bitcoin ransoms on behalf of Iranian hackers who targeted government and business sites in the US and Canada. Anyone who does… Read More

November 29, 2018 @ 7:15 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Yesterday, the American Justice Department indicted Iranian citizens Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34, and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri, 27, for executing remote cyber attacks against 200 American government agencies, municipalities and health care businesses, the Daily Mail reports. The charges were announced by US Deputy Attorney… Read More

November 19, 2018 @ 3:05 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Chairperson for the International Business Forum, an organization established in 1995 to “provide a trustworthy global business network, especially for Muslim business-people,” says the organization is going to create a cryptocurrency to help Islamic countries evade controls associated with the US dollar, which has… Read More

November 13, 2018 @ 8:52 am By Cali Haan  |  

The CEO of Informatics Services Corporation (ISC), a private Fintech company in Iran, says the country’s Central Bank has given his company permission to start trailing the cryptocurrency it designed for the Iranian state, Ibena reports. Seyyed Abotaleb Najafi, the London-trained CEO of ISC, reportedly emphasized… Read More

November 7, 2018 @ 5:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Pilates, a private bank accused by murdered journalist Daphne Carauna Galizia of laundering money for Maltese politicians and foreign interests, has lost its license, Financial Times reports. The license was withdrawn last Friday by the European Central Bank (ECB), several months after Pilatus’ founder and ex-chairman Seyed… Read More

October 12, 2018 @ 7:08 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The American Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued an advisory warning that Iranian state actors may escalate their attempts to move money in and out of the country through “illicit” channels (including cryptocurrencies) once the US completes its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action… Read More

September 17, 2018 @ 7:53 am By Cali Haan  |  

Costs presently outweigh benefits, and so the European Central Bank (ECB), “has no plans to issue a central bank digital currency,” at this time, though it is investigating the matter, says ECB president, Mario Draghi. Draghi made the comments in a September 12th letter responding… Read More

September 9, 2018 @ 5:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to IBENA, a news agency in banking and economy area, which is affiliated with the Central Bank of Iran, the country has “[accepted] cryptocurrency mining as [an] industry.” Spokesperson Abolhassan Firouzabadi said the Iranian National Cyberspace Center will be leading the crypto initiative with the Central Bank, which… Read More

August 30, 2018 @ 12:52 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An Iranian politician has once again taken to state-owned media to promise the release of a government cryptocurrency to help Iran sidestep sanctions and participate freely in the global economy, Press TV reports via ISNA. The latest comments were made by the Deputy for Management and… Read More

August 8, 2018 @ 11:51 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The latest cybersecurity report from Accenture says that, “nation-state-sponsored cyberattacks (emanating from Iran have) grown, and this is likely to continue.” The report also claims that Iranian hackers are becoming more adept at cyberattacks involving cryptocurrencies, including mining malware attacks (where hackers create “botnets” of… Read More

July 31, 2018 @ 9:59 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The rial traded at historic lows this weekend in Iranian black markets as financial problems made worse by US sanctions continue to take a toll on the country. According to the Arab Times, Iran’s national currency traded at 116 000-to one US dollar Saturday before… Read More

July 22, 2018 @ 4:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

  A report in Ibena from last week indicates that the US government is confiscating Bitcoins held by Iranians and the confiscation is ongoing. According to Sepehr Mohammadi from the Iranian Blockchain Community, the US has seized 500 bitcoins or more. In May of this year,… Read More

June 26, 2018 @ 10:57 am By Cali Haan  |  

The streets of Tehran filled with protestors yesterday as citizens vented frustration about declining economic conditions and the steady devaluation of the country’s currency, the rial. A composite of videos from social media posted by Radio Free Europe shows mainly male protesters standing behind burning… Read More

May 5, 2018 @ 9:34 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Iranian minister responsible for information and communications technology, Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi, has announced that a cryptocurrency it developed with the ministry’s Post Bank is “ready,” Reuters reports. Iranian State news agency IRNA has reported that the state’s cryptocurrency will be exempted from a ban… Read More

April 23, 2018 @ 2:14 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Attempts by Iranian citizens to trade their rapidly deflating rials for US dollars or cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are being vigorously scuttled by Iranian authorities. The latest ban on cryptocurrencies, reported by the state news agency IRNA, follows the imposition of standardized exchange rates across the… Read More

April 2, 2018 @ 12:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Telegram or TON Issuer, has filed a new Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission that indicates $1.7 will be (or has been) raised for one of the hottest initial coin offerings ever. According to the Reg D 506c offering document; “This $850,000,000 offering… Read More

December 23, 2016 @ 11:51 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Central Bank of Iran (also known as CBI) announced earlier this week that it is planning to launch its very own fintech regulatory body. According to the director of CBI’s Office for Innovative Technologies, Ali Kermanshah, the organization has been working on fintech regulations since 2012,… Read More

October 30, 2014 @ 1:52 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this month, non-profit organization Code.org launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise $5,000,000 for its new program called, An Hour of Code for Every Student. This will give 100 million students throughout the world an opportunity to have one hour per day of… Read More