According to news agency IBENA, which is affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran, Abolhassan Firouzabadi, the secretary of Iran’s High Council of Cyberspace, stated on Tuesday that cryptocurrency mining “has been accepted as an industry by the government”. Following the country’s recognition of crypto mining, reports indicate that the price of Bitcoin on some local exchanges such as Exir peaked to over $24,000–exceeding the global average all-time high of $20,000 seen in December–while prices elsewhere were around $7,000, Coindesk.com reported. Data from CryptoCompare back up the reports, indicating that OTC trading prices on LocalBitcoins briefly reached as high as $25,000, Financial Tribune reported.