Iran Plans to Prohibit Crypto Mining as Power Shortages Menace Energy Hunger

Tehran recently experienced a wave of power outages. Some other large cities also experienced issues with electricity. Amidst the chaos generated by sudden shortages, the government blames miners of cryptocurrencies. Many new farms appeared in the country after the Chinese exodus as reported by several international news outlets. As expected, many of the miners are operating in the shadows, effectively stealing electricity from the government. 

Note that the Iranian government did not put blame on miners solely. They also cited recent droughts and natural gas shortages as reasons for power deficits across the nation. Nonetheless, the nation’s TV network recently announced that the country prohibits any bitcoin mining on its territory. 

The battle against miners started long ago. In January 2021, local officials discovered a data center with over 50 thousand machines that operated illegally. The total energy consumption of the site was estimated at 96 MW/h. In the beginning of Summer, officials found yet another illegal mining site with over 7 thousand rigs. 

Just a year ago, many local producers of electricity were happy to sell their surplus to miners and the total share of the country in the computational power of the BTC network reached 5% globally. However, the consequences of uncontrolled, poorly regulated approach to the mining industry led to saddening results as mining may become obsolete in the nation due to unexpected energy overconsumption. Note that only 50 licenses for mining were issued by the government while the rest of the miners operating in the country appear to be gray miners!