Like any other place in the world, becoming a bitcoiner is permissionless in Iran as well. You will be introduced to Bitcoin by a bitcoiner, you get a wallet of your own, and the moment you receive your first satoshis, you're in. Period. Blessed for life in terms of financial sovereignty.
But becoming a bitcoiner has some extra blessings for Iranians. Hearing the words "sanction", "embargo" and "boycott" in the news is one thing, but living them as a human being is a whole different story.
As part of an environment that has been rejected and refused by others for many decades, you will develop a different skill-set for survival. As an entrepreneur, you don't get to think big. You have a limited, local market in front of you, and you have to deal with it. You don't have the opportunity to target worldwide markets for obvious reasons: There are no means of exchanging value with the outside world.
Until Bitcoin.
The same way Internet revolutionized publishing and gave us Iranians a voice globally, Bitcoin is changing finance so that everyone can be part of the global market. I see more and more people trying to use Bitcoin as a way to circumvent the sanctions. Exchanges have been around for some time, and their volume has increased noticeably through the years.
We have more bitcoiners in different professions than before, constantly lobbying for Bitcoin as the true sound money.
The Government, like most governments around the world, is trying to get in the way though. Slow things down. Increase the cost of electricity to make mining undesirable. Put nonsense regulations in place. Doing whatever it takes in an attempt to control a thing that exists to be uncontrollable. A dead-end approach, of course.
A growing number of Bitcoin communities, meet-ups and gatherings have been formed in Iran, but to me there is one community that stands out: Simorgh.
Simorgh, by Hamidreza Bidaghi
Named after a legendary bird in a Persian poem by Attar of Nishapur, where birds of the world gather to find their sovereign, the Simorgh. Many of the birds perish on this journey, and in the end only thirty of them make it to the abode of Simorgh. There they learn that they themselves are the Si (thirty) Morgh (birds).
We have a variety of people in Simorgh. From lawyers to financiers, coders, economists and influencers. They all share a common belief, discussing decentralization and Bitcoin. We also get lots of trolls, always mocking and disrupting. We are grateful for having them as well.
Long story short, we're boosting the idea here in Iran as well.
Bitcoin “is” everywhere, all the time.
TechMiX is a part-time coder, full-time bitcoiner, who has had the honor contributing to some of the bitcoin endeavors he believes in. He created his first computer game in 2004, and took part in the development of some popular game titles in Iran.