US Sanctions on Iran Crypto Mining

One of the most notable of these countries is Iran - which, since the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, has been on the receiving end of a long series of prohibitions, blocks and sanctions.

Some of these sanctions were lifted in January 2016, when the then-President Barack Obama, signed an executive order revoking them as part of the previous year's historic nuclear deal with Iran.

While there's little doubt that the U.S. would much prefer Iran to have no access whatsoever to cryptocurrency - as well as no ability to mint its own digital currencies - it doesn't seem likely that it can do anything to restrict the Middle Eastern country other than introducing sanctions that prohibit American and foreign firms from having crypto-related dealings with the Islamic Republic.

"ISP providers can be required to block mining pools or anything related to mining. However, governments will have more luck in preventing mining in the countries they control than in preventing the mining of other, sovereign nations."

"The President shall impose 5 or more of the sanctions described in section 6(a) of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 with respect to any foreign person that the President determines knowingly engages, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, in a significant transaction for the sale, supply, or transfer to Iran of significant goods or services, or technological support, used in connection with the development of Iranian digital currency."

The act may have an impact on the production of Bitcoin in Iran - at least, to the extent that it prevents American mining manufacturers from selling relevant equipment to Iranian organizations.

Even if the act succeeds in preventing such manufacturers in most countries from selling mining units to Iran, even this might not prevent Bitcoin or cryptocurrency mining from taking place in the Islamic Republic.

"There's always a way around blockages. The US would have to control Iran's digital infrastructure. With Iran seeing support from Russia, this is an unlikely scenario."

If Iran is capable of building its own atomic weapons, then it will certainly be capable of building its own ASIC chips and mining units.

If the Blocking Iran Illicit Finance Act is passed, it will certainly find it much harder to profit from its own digital currency, with or without the ability to mine crypto.