Swedish investment company uses Bitcoin instead of a bank account to invest in Iran
Milad Tower, Tehran. Image of “Nima; Hopographer” via Flickr.com. License: Creative Commons
Bitcoins against fear: For the Swedish company Brave New World Investments (BNWI), Iran is a great place to invest money. In itself, this is not forbidden, but since the banks of the country fear to annoy the United States, if they allow something like this, BNWI has not received a bank account. The investment company has no choice but to use bitcoins – and has the OK of the government for it.
Oh man. Two years ago, the following message would have been a good April Fool’s joke. Bitcoin apparently penetrates the capillaries of the global financial system and positions itself as an alternative wherever conventional channels are clogged for fine. The news of the Swedish investment company Brave New World Investments (BNWI) is an extreme, outrageous and perhaps also wonderful example.
Brave New World Investments is an investment company founded in Linköping in Swedish at the beginning of the year. The company’s name is the program: “We say at Brave New World Investments, let’s hug this beautiful new world. Great rewards are waiting for those who take the risk of taking opportunities.“A special focus from BNWI is to invest in Iran.
“The Middle East is a world region in which high risks and high yields are. Part of the region goes through an economic and technological transformation … by far the greatest chances are in Iran after the sanctions. While the sanctions are broken down, the economy urgently needs investments to catch up internationally.“The two founders of BNWI, Martin O’Duinning and Mikael Johansson, have both worked in Iran for several years. They explain that the Tehran stock exchange is significantly undervalued and that the tax laws in Iran are extremely investing -friendly.
Why the blockchain is the easiest way for money to Iran
Perfect prerequisites for putting money to where it is needed and increased. Wouldn’t it be the Americans. Because while the EU has been in the process of reducing the sanctions – and trading between the EU and Iran again – the United States decided not to extend the sanctions by another ten years in December. After a rocket test of Iran, the United States even expanded the economic sanctions in early March.
Actually, it is completely legal for an EU company like Brave New World Investments to invest in the Iranian economy. However, since the Swedish banks fear that the cooperation with BNWI will lead to problems in the relationship with the USA, the company has not found a bank account for its business operations. All six large Swedish banks have rejected.
So the founders checked whether they can use Bitcoin instead of euros and found this for a viable path. This made Brave New World Investments the first investment company that has no bank account. The customers or. Investors in the funds have to pay in Bitcoin, and the company uses Bitcoin to rent salaries, rent etc. to pay and transfer money to Iran.
That is crazy enough in itself. But it goes on.
Register a company with a Bitcoin address-tax offices are putting off the blinkers?
As Coindesk reports, the company has the official permission of the Swedish government to use a Bitcoin account instead of a bank account to provide financial evidence and register the company. To do this, they had to prove a signed statement of an auditor that they are owners of an account. The company was able to do this through Bitcoin transactions to a specific address. This means that there is a Bitcoin address that is reserved for incoming payments to BNWI and which is known to the Swedish government.
Maybe the Swedish financial supervision will put the common blinkers and find that the Bitcoin blockchain offers a much more uncomplicated and further transparency than bank accounts. Yes, you could even go so far as to say that Bitcoin is not a good instrument for money laundering and tax evasion, as is often assumed. Instead of calling the bank to understand transactions, a look at a blockexplorer is enough. I am pretty sure that the German Ministry of Finance, as soon as it has understood it, will quickly lose contact with Bitcoin.
All of that is incredible. But we are still not finished with this mad message.
Let the example go to school
So after the company was properly founded, Johansson and O’Duinning, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plan to help Iranian companies overcome similar obstacles. Because it is often a big problem to get money to Iran and out.
For example, the international payment network Swift cut down all connections to Iran four years ago. While credit cards are slowly coming back onto the market after the sanctions have been released, many of them remain in force. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could be a good instrument to pave the way back to the world market. On the one hand to receive money, on the other hand, to send money, and the third to reduce the buttons, prevent companies abroad from doing trade with Iran.
Well. The revolution has started. Lean back and look at how Bitcoin makes history.