Why is Bitcoin trading at a 253% premium price in Iran?

Bitcoin is currently trading at an incredible $25,887 in Iran, more than $18,500 above the current bitcoin global price of $7,300. But, why is it trading at such a premium price when the whole world is 6 feet under the ground? Here’s an answer to it.

This story first broke out on reddit and been responded by some native Iranians and other cryptocurrency traders who visited Iran recently. More than the fact that, the fact it is trading at such premium rates, responses provided by people who are seeing this first hand has given us an better perspective at this situation.

“Bitcoin is trading at a hefty premium of 250% in Iran” was the statement made by several articles online and let’s see the facts behind this. Though they have mentioned that it’s trading at an incredible $25,887 — this is calculated based on official currency conversion rates from Iranian Rial to USD.

Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash

That means if Bitcoin is trading at 1,087,254,000 IRR — which if calculated according to the official USD to IRR exhange rate which is 42000 IRR to 1 USD and is only reserved for special products. This will make it an incredible $25,887 USD per Bitcoin.

However, as per the local Iranians mentioned on reddit —

the unofficial USD price here which the majority of goods including Bitcoin is priced is 150,000 IRR, which means the price of BTC is still around the global price of $7,300.

According to another person who recently went to Iran

Rial in Iran is not 42,000 but 140,000 to 1USD. There are two prices, one is official government which is 42k but no one buys or sell at that one, the other is 147k you can see it on bonbast.com

Though various articles mention that BTC is traded at premium prices in certain countries, in the end it comes up to the same price as the globally traded rate. So, don’t fall for articles with click bait title!

That’s one of those Reddit Crypto Myth Busters

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