The Guardian:

Tom Burgis and Michael Goodier

Iran’s central bank appears to have been using vast quantities of a cryptocurrency championed by Nigel Farage, according to a new report.

Elliptic, a crypto analytics company, said it had traced at least $507m (£377m) of cryptocurrency issued by Tether – a company touted by the Reform UK leader – passing through accounts that appear to be controlled by Iran’s central bank.

Elliptic’s report tracked what it says is the Iranian central bank’s “systematic accumulation” of Tether stablecoins, a type of crypto that is pegged to the dollar so it can easily be exchanged for hard currency.

This pointed to “a sophisticated strategy to bypass the global banking system”, perhaps to trade or to prop up the rial, Iran’s currency.

With thousands confirmed dead in the brutal suppression of protests, the Iranian regime’s apparent use of Tether’s stablecoins raises questions for Farage about his support for the cryptocurrency.

In September, Farage revealed he was planning to raise Tether during a meeting with the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey.

“I’m going to go tomorrow to say this,” Farage told LBC radio. “You know, Tether is a stablecoin. Stablecoins are the way which money goes from conventional currencies through into cryptocurrencies and back again. Tether is about to be valued as a $500bn company.”

Farage criticised Bailey for imposing restrictions on crypto and urged the UK to catch up with the US, where Donald Trump, who chose Howard Lutnick, Tether’s banker, as his commerce secretary, has reversed efforts to police digital currencies.

Farage added: “You know, stablecoins, crypto – this world is enormous, and I’ve been urging for years that London should embrace it. We should become a global trading centre for this stuff, under proper regulation.”

One of Tether’s major shareholders, the tech investor Christopher Harborne, is Reform’s biggest donor. His lawyers said Harborne, who does not hold an executive post at Tether, is not responsible for illicit activities by its users. Suggestions that Harborne profits from Iran’s use of Tether stablecoins were “baseless drivel”, the lawyers said.

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