The Iranian government agency responsible for power generation and distribution has given the thumbs up to a re-continuation of crypto mining, after a mining ban was imposed in May to ease pressure on the national power grid.
Tavanir, the Iranian power generation, distribution, and transmission company has announced that the ban on cryptocurrency mining will be lifted on the 22 September. This is in the expectation that power consumption will start declining by the end of the summer, and subsequently release up energy for digital currency miners.
The move is a welcome relief for crypto miners who had been partly blamed for the serious power shortages over recent months. This had culminated with the ex-president Hassan Rouhani decreeing a temporary ban across all crypto mining.
Legally licenced crypto miners might well have been more than a little irritated with the ban, given that their actual usage of the power grid was very small. However, those who were unlicenced were said to be using the equivalent of around half the consumption of the capital city of Tehran.
These unregulated miners were also impacting the power distribution network, leading to rolling blackouts during the fiercely hot summer months. To combat this situation, Tavanir began to shut down the illegal crypto miners.
According to Tavanir, the mining equipment used by the illegal miners caused damage valued at around 180 trillion rials ($4.26 billion). The company also reported that it has seized over 212,000 pieces of illegal mining equipment.
For the legal crypto miners, the government has issued 30 crypto farm licences. Semnan province has the largest number with 6, while Alborz province has the second largest number with 4.
Crypto mining can potentially be very lucrative for Iran given the upward surge in crypto markets. Also, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum could be used for international payments, thereby circumventing the dollar and any trade bans that involved the currency.
The crypto mining sector is receiving a lot of interest now that China has banned it. BlackRock, the biggest asset manager in the world recently revealed that it had invested in crypto mining companies to the tune of $384 million.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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