On 19 June, Iran’s Ministry of Energy decided to cut down the electricity supplied to the country’s authorised crypto mining units. As per the Tehran Times report, this order will take place from June 22. The action is being taken to prevent unauthorised mines from gaining access to electricity.
In January of this year, the Iranian government granted 1,000 crypto mining licences to mint the token. According to the sources, 118 authorised mines are currently using the country’s electricity supply. In the previous week, the country consumed 62,500 megawatts (MW). However, power consumption is expected to exceed 63,000 MW, putting the country’s supply at risk.
In 2019, the Iranian government approved the operation of cryptocurrency mines. At the start of the year 2020, almost 1,000 mines were allowed connection to the electrical grid. As a result, mining activity in the country increased. However, some illegal miners began minting tokens using domestic supplies.
Iran has been dealing with the problem of illegal mining for a long time. Last year, the Iranian government also prohibited crypto mining in order to save the country’s power supply. It was discovered that the illegal mines consumed nearly 600 megawatts of power at the time. The ban is in effect until the beginning of March this year. It was estimated that it would free up to 209 megawatts of domestic power supply.
In 2021, the Iranian minister also threatened the unlicensed miner with huge fines for the damage their acts had caused to the country’s electrical supply. Cryptocurrency mining has exacerbated problems for Iran’s electric industry and resources, which are already afflicted by climate issues such as drought and water scarcity.
