Around 4.5% of all bitcoin mining takes place in Iran, allowing the country to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies that can be used to buy imports and lessen the impact of sanctions, a new study has found. At its current level of mining, Iran’s bitcoin production would amount to revenues close $1 billion a year, according to figures from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. The United States imposes an almost total economic embargo on Iran, including a ban on all imports including those from the country’s oil, banking and shipping sectors. While, exact figures are “very challenging to determine,” ... (full story)