Iran prepares to remove restrictions imposed on cryptocurrency mining in response to electricity shortages this summer. In response to Iranian media, the country’s power utility company has said that the ban affecting licensed miners will be lifted as early as next month.
Licensed Miners in Iran to Resume Bitcoin Minting
The short-term ban on crypto mining, introduced earlier this year by the Iranian Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, will be lifted on Sept. 22, the English-language business daily Financial Tribune reported. The essential announcement was made by the Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company, Tavanir.
The hope is that power consumption across the Islamic Republic will decline by the tip of summer, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, spokesman for the state-owned utility, informed ISNA news agency. A drop in electricity demand when temperatures begin to fall will create conditions for restarting the operations of legal digital currency miners, he noted.
The restrictive measure was introduced in May, by the then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, amid an increasing power deficit causing blackouts in many parts of the country. The energy-intensive coin minting process was partially blamed for the shortages.
When the unusually hot weather led to a severe enhance in consumption, Iranian regulators initially stated licensed miners can be shut down throughout peak hours. Ultimately, the federal government determined to go along with a blanket ban on mining till the end of summer.
Tavanir Seizes Over 200,000 Illegal Mining Rigs in a year
The suspension of licensed mining has been met with frustration and criticism from the native crypto community. It’s been estimated that registered mining entities account for only around 300 megawatts (MW) of consumption when unlawful miners burn as much as 3,000 MW a day, which is half of what the capital Tehran wants.
Iran acknowledged cryptocurrency mining as a legal industrial activity in July 2019. Mining businesses were required to obtain a license from the Ministry of Industries and pay for the used electricity at export costs. The department has issued mining permits to 30 firms, based on its website.
Since April, when the Energy Ministry revised its rules, miners are charged 16,574 rials ($0.39) per kilowatt-hour, which is four times the initial rate. Nonetheless, the tariff is lower in half when family consumption is low and the grid is not stressed and respectively, doubled in periods of power deficits.
In the meantime, Iranian authorities went after unregistered miners insisting they not only use a lot of energy but also damage the electrical grid. Tavanir started to uncover and disconnect illegal mining farms. The utility has confiscated more than 212,000 units of mining equipment in the past year claiming the brought about damages amount to 180 trillion rials (over $4 million).
