Amid a crackdown on illegal crypto miners in Iran, authorities have revealed granting licenses for the operation of a considerable number of facilities dedicated to cryptocurrency mining.
According to Financial Tribune, the Iranian Ministry of Industries, Mining, and Trade had given the go signal for 30 companies to mine digital currencies. These mining farms are spread across several regions and one of them is based in Tehran Province where the nation’s capital is located.
The administrative region of Semnan Province hosts the largest number of facilities, serving home for six crypto farms. Meanwhile, Alborz Province follows with its four while next is Mazandaran, East Azerbaijan and Zanjan provinces.
The Iran crypto mining industry
Two years ago, Iran moved to approve cryptocurrency mining as a legal activity and the government introduced a licensing regime for entities who wished to try their luck on the industry. Last summer, according to reports, there were 14 bitcoin mining farms operating under such licenses.
Authorized miners were offered at first a discount of almost 50% of the regular electricity rate. This decision made crypto mining an attractive business in Iran.
However, things have changed immensely, as this year’s power shortages were partially blamed on the energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining process.
Changing times
Last month, Iranian authorities said they will be pulling the plug on licensed crypto miners during peak hours of power consumption as according to government estimates, these facilities consume around 300 megawatts of electricity every day.
Moreover, Tehran moved to go after illegal miners as well as they were accused of burning more than 2,000 megawatts daily. Tavanir, a state-owned power utility, said the country’s electricity deficit amounted to 5,000 megawatts.
With this, eventually, the Iranian government decided to ban crypto mining altogether until September 22 of this year.
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