Iran Seizes 7,000 Crypto Miners After Banning Mining Operations Due to Power Blackouts

Iranian officers have seized 7,000 Bitcoin mining machines operating at an illegal cryptocurrency farm located in an abandoned factory in the west of Tehran.

Temporary Halt Called on Crypto Mining

Iran has been a crypto-friendly country in recent years, mostly to outlook US sanctions and to pay for imports using cryptocurrencies. But recent power outages have pushed the government to place a temporary halt on all crypto mining until September.

In January, Iran confiscated over 1500 unlicensed crypto mining farms, seizing 45,000 mining rigs. But this latest is the largest haul in a country where cryptocurrency mining is banned temporarily due to high energy consumption causing power outages. According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, at least 4.5% of all BTC mining takes place in Iran due to its cheap electricity. 

Could China’s Continuous Crackdown Benefit Crypto in the Long Run?

While some countries and states are banning crypto mining, others are incentivising Bitcoin mining companies. This is a consequence of the rolling Chinese crackdown on cryptocurrencies, which has pushed miners overseas. Latin America has so far been the most welcoming continent to miners looking for alternatives.

As China accounts for 65% of the Bitcoin hashrate, miners would set up shop there due to its competitive hardware price and cheap energy. This lasted a couple of years until unclear regulatory weather set in and shook the crypto market in 2021 with China shutting down crypto mining farms in the country.

The benefit of the Chinese government shutting down mining farms is the redistributed hashrate. Bitcoin mining could become more decentralised as miners look to countries and states that can meet their conditions to mine. Mining companies are now looking to North America, Latin America and Central Asia to set up shop and pick up some of the slack.

Ending the ‘China FUD’

Other important and positive aspects of this situation are that it will end the classic “China FUD” – that China controls Bitcoin, or that miners use dirty energy to mine – and it can alleviate the market as it will discourage media channels from promoting fear and uncertainty.

El Salvador, despite international criticism from regulatory and financial models, is proceeding with its plan to develop a huge mining operation centre using the country’s geothermal energy excess.