A known power company of Iran Tavanir shut down nearly 1100 farms engaged crypto mining recently as they were operating without a valid license. They took the help of whistleblowers to identify such miners and the individuals who provided such critical information received 100 million rials for their cooperation, according to media sources. Hence for the crypto miners, this is a tough time, and they have to restrict their activities in Iran. However, the market of this virtual currency is yet intact with such restrictions in one nation.
Using subsidized electricity:
Tavanir said that they had to shut down the firms as they were using high levels of subsidized electricity. However, as per their own reports, there is no clarity on the significant increase in the consumption of electricity. Officials said that they are not able to detect all farms just by understanding the consumption patterns, and they had to rely on whistleblowers.
National law on crypto mining:
The national law on crypto mining mentions clearly that the identity of the miners should be disclosed, and all the details should be provided to the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade. Authorities check critical information about the type of hardware used by the farms while allotting the license. In the same manner, they even check the size of the mining farms as this information will help them to validate individuals and companies involved in the mining activities.
All this information is collected to prevent smuggling, and this will encourage mining farms to work with a proper license. When individuals or companies are caught mining cryptocurrencies illegally, they will be fined as per the hardware used by the miners and also by the use of subsidized electricity by the individuals or companies. Both individuals, as well as companies, qualify for such a license.
Recently, iMiner has become the largest crypto-miner in Iran after it got a license by Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade in May. They have set up around 6000 rigs, and this is the largest crypto miners of the country.
So far, the government has issued authorized licenses to as many as 1000 companies in Iran, and cryptocurrency mining is now considered an industrial activity in the country. Considering such measures by the government, experts are of the opinion that the future of cryptocurrencies is very bright in Iran and other developing countries.