Brave New World Investments AB, a new firm registered in Sweden, is now accepting deposits in bitcoin which it converts to Iranian Rial and invests in equities on the Tehran Stock Exchange. It does this on behalf of its European shareholders while also searching for angel investors among the Persian and bitcoin communities in Europe.

The team behind the venture is Mairtin O’Duinnin and Mikael Johansson, both with experience in finance and technology in Europe and the Middle East. Brave New World is the first known company in Sweden to incorporate without a bank account and handled all the initial funding in bitcoin. It was prevented by the Swedish banks due to fears their U.S. operations would be affected by the American financial sanctions if the banks allowed Swedish-Iranian business.

Johansson commented to Finance Magnates about the business:  “We got to think of the venture as the sanctions against Iran were starting to get dismantled in early 2016. However, due to U.S. financial sanctions still in effect against Iran, none of the Swedish banks wanted to help us – despite there being no relevant sanctions against Iran in Sweden or European Union stopping us.

Instead of giving up the idea we side-stepped the Swedish banking system and funded it on the blockchain – which the Swedish company registration accepted – after many meetings. Now we simply do not have a Swedish bank account (however we do have an Iranian bank account for the equity investments). We pay our bills, shareholder dividends, Iran deposits – everything – in cryptocurrencies.

There are no sanctions in Sweden or in the European Union obstructing Swedish-Iranian investments, so we are not breaking any laws in our jurisdiction. We religiously follow anti money laundry directives set by the relevant institutions of Sweden and the European Union. Due to the current U.S. sanctions, the company will not have U.S. operations nor U.S. investors for an indefinite future.”

(Source: financemagnates.com)