Iran’s Government Has Taken Down More Than A Thousand Crypto Farms

Iran’s power provider, Tavanir, had managed to shut down 1,100 crypto mining farms within the country thanks to the help of whistleblowers. According to the allegations, these crypto farms were operating without the proper licensing for the country.

Stealing Subsidized Power

Tavanir stated that these miners were using “high levels” of the country’s subsidized electricity. Even so, the report about the matter clarified that no significant changes regarding the consumption of electricity were reported, either. The local authorities highlighted this as the reason why whistleblowers are paramount within the country, as Tavanir can’t detect all illegal farming operations purely by their consumption patterns.

Individuals that had provided information that led to the successful detection of unauthorized miners had been given a bounty worth 100 million Rials, or $480. This comes by way of the Financial Tribune, a local news outlet

Regulating Crypto Mining In Iran

Iran has recently announced that it will allow for power plants of industrial-scale to operate as Bitcoin miners, as well. However, the stipulation was that these power plants were forbidden from using subsidized fuel to enable this.

The national law regarding crypto mining within Iran makes it clear that miners need to disclose their identities, as well as provide detailed information to the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade.  The information given is regarding the types of hardware they’re using, the size of the mining farms themselves, and gets collected in a bid to prevent smuggling within the country. Miners, in turn, are defined as companies and as individuals within Iranian law.

Crypto miners doing illegal business within the country risk fines ranging between $2,000 and $5,000 for every piece of hardware used. Alongside this, another fine of $20,000 will be leveled against miners illegally using subsidized electricity as a power source.

A Brief History

It was back in May when the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade had granted iMiner license to operate within the country. iMiner stands as a crypto mining company, and became one of the largest crypto miners in Iran with its 6,000 rigs.

It was back in July of 2019 when Iran’s government had authorized crypto mining as an industrial activity. Since then, the government has issued out more than 1,000 licenses to crypto mining companies to allow them to operate within Iran.

With extremely cheap power, relative to other countries, it’s no surprise that crypto mining is very popular in Iran. Naturally, if you make money from it legally, you can make more money from it illegally, so the amusing reaction is a crime syndicate of crypto miners within Iran. While silly, it’s imperative that people stay within the bounds of the law while doing their business; otherwise, nothing works as it should.