Iranian Energy Ministry spokesperson, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, warned Iranian crypto miners, who use household electricity for their mining operations. He said that crypto miners will face a fine if identified. This measure comes amid Iran faces electricity supply shortage.
Mining cryptocurrency using household electricity is one of the main causes of electricity shortage, said Rajabi to Tehran Times. The country is already suffering a shortage of electricity coming from hydro-power plants due to less rain. Reports indicate that if mining continues, the consequent damage could lead to blackouts and other outages.
Cryptocurrency mining expanded rapidly in Iran after the government’s decision to legalize it as industrial activity in 2019. Ministry of Industry also issued 1000+ mining licenses regulating mining activity, in January 2020. Recently, they allowed using cryptocurrency, derived from sanctioned miners, to pay for imports.
Mohsen Tarztalab is the head of Iran’s Thermal Power Plant Holding company. He announced that his company is going to hold a tender for offering electricity of three power plants to cryptocurrency miners. These three power plants are Ramin, Neka, and Shahid Montazeri.
Hiking in energy prices and the obligation to supply electricity at stable prices have caused a large gap between revenues and expenditure. “We need new sources of income to fill this gap,” Mohsen added. He suggested the sale of electricity to cryptocurrency miners as one of the solutions to fill this gap.
