Crypto miners in Iran ordered to halt all mining activities amid sweeping power outages.

Crypto miners in Iran have been ordered to halt all cryptocurrency mining activities as the government acts in response to sweeping power outages across the country. The instruction came from the first vice president of Iran, Eshaq Jahangiri, who said all of the country’s licensed mining companies should halt production. It comes against the backdrop of ongoing restrictions on electricity supply in the country, driven by the resource-intensive crypto mining sector. 

جهانگیری: وضع فعلی برق تا اوایل مرداد ادامه دارد

اطمینان می‌دهیم که برق جاهای ضروری و مهم قطع نشده و نخواهد شد

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Crypto mining restrictions are expected to remain in place until August.

Crypto mining restrictions are expected to remain until August, coinciding with the timeline set out by Iranian president Hassan Rouhani for banning unlicensed cryptocurrency mining in the country to avoid further power outages. Jahangiri spoke equivocally in instructing crypto mining firms not to contribute further to the energy supply problems plaguing residents and businesses across Iran. “We will ensure that the electricity will not be cut off in essential and important places. Licensed miners must also stop production altogether,” he added. 

Iran continues to weed out illegal crypto miners. 

Iran made cryptocurrency mining legal back in 2019, with a licensing and regulatory regime to structure the industry and allow the government to control activity in the sector. However, recent months have seen the growth of crypto mining companies and unregulated home mining, putting national infrastructure under significant strain. As a result, Iran has shut down many crypto mining farms in recent weeks. Law enforcement agencies fond setups with as many as 7,000 mining rigs operating illegally via domestic electricity supplies. The ban will come as a further blow to miners operating in Iran at a time of increasingly stringent regulation for miners across countries.