Every week we’ll be bringing you the highlights of Iran’s tech scene in the past week. This week, we covered Bitcoin getting banned in Iran, Silk Road Startup Summit’s winners, 250 European banks connected to Iran and 223% increase in Iran’s phone imports.

Bitcoin Banned in Iran

The minister of ICT, Azari Jahromi, reacted to banning digital currencies including Bitcoin in the country by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), stating that this doesn’t mean that we can’t use these types of currencies for the domestic developments. He emphasized that moving backwards in the case of cryptocurrencies is not meaningful, since the future construction of the world will be based on the Blockchain technology. 

Azari Jahromi also pointed out to the joint project which the research facilities from both the ICT Ministry and the CBI are working with the Post Bank to present the first Iranian digital currency. He announced that the pilot version of this project is done.

Related: Bitcoin in Iran

Silk Road Startup Summit’s Winners

After startups from all over Iran applied to participate in this big competition and started their journey of success and dreams, finally the time came when three winners were announced on the second day of Silk Road Startup Summit in Kish Island. These three were chosen as the top startups, among 400 other teams which had previously applied for the pitch competition. These three were, in the order of third place to first, Doctoreto (innovative medical service provider), Keshmoon (online market for Iranian saffron) and Echobaar (truckload transportation service). Make sure to check out all of them and for the full report, you can read the article below.

Related: Silk Road Startup Summit: Iran’s Top 3 Startups Announced

250 European Banks Connected to Iran

According to ITMEN, during the sixth Iran-Europe Business and Banking Conference, it was announced that several European banks have facilitated their financial trades with Iran and currently more than 250 European banks are connected to Iran via SWIFT.

Related: What Stops European Banks to Engage With Iran?

223% Increase in Iran’s Mobile Phone Imports

According to Tasnim, Iran’s imports of mobile phones in the first month of the new Persian year is reported, 249 thousand and 154 in terms of quantity with a value of 45 million and 414 thousand USD. These rates show an increase of 96% in quantity and 223% in value, compared to the previous year.

Related: Value of Imported Mobile Phones into Iran Reaches 342 Million USD