Media: Iran has confiscated over 221,000 devices for illegal mining

Over the past week, Iranian authorities seized 227 cryptocurrency mining devices from illegal miners in 14 residential buildings. The total number of confiscated units during the crackdown on illegal mining has reached 221,390, according to Financial Tribune.

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In total, inspectors from the state energy company Tavanir identified and shut down 5,756 farms.

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Mining was legalised in Iran in 2019. However, for legal miners electricity costs are around $0.039 per kWh, and the government-subsidised tariff for households is $0.005 per kWh.

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As of October 2021, the Ministry of Industry issued 30 licenses for cryptocurrency mining. The total capacity of legally operating farms reaches 400 MW.

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According to Tavanir, illegal mining still consumes around 2,000 MW.

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In May 2021, authorities enlisted intelligence to combat illegal mining. The Ministry of Energy announced the introduction of penalties for consuming electricity intended for domestic use to mine cryptocurrencies.

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The power shortage was the reason. The country imposed a mining ban until September, even for authorised farms. In the autumn, the restrictions were lifted.

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Tavanir warned of possible power outages this winter due to the demand on the grids, which is aggravated by illegal crypto mining.

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“Growing demand for electricity from unauthorized miners could cause power outages this winter, when gas consumption is also at a peak, as it did in the summer,” the company noted.

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According to Elliptic analysts’ research, Bitcoin mining allows Iran to evade sanctions imposed on it and to buy imported goods.

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