Mining farms for cryptocurrency have been seeing an increase in Iran thanks to the low electricity costs. In research published by Elite Fixtures, mining Bitcoin will only cost you $3,217 in the nation using specialised mining hardware like Avalon 6 or AntMiner S9.
With the increasing number of mining farms around the country caused a seven percent increase in energy consumption last month that affected the nations power grid making it unstable and causing problems for consumers according to the Iranian Energy Ministry spokesperson, Mostafa Rajabi.
As a result of this, the government decided to move forward towards recognising crypto mining as an industry that should see further regulations under Iran’s legal framework. This comes despite seizing around 1,000 Bitcoin mining rigs from two former factories in June alone.
The head of the economic commission of the Iranian Parliament, Elyas Hazrati has said:
“We do believe that the cryptocurrency industry should be recognized as an official industry in Iran to let the country take advantage of its tax and customs revenues.”
According to the governor of the country’s central bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, Irans government’s economic commission had approved a measure that allows digital assets like Bitcoin to be mined within the nation. Although this will be discussed further at a later cabinet meeting for more scrutiny.
On top of this, as reported by CryptoSlate, “the Deputy Minister of Energy Homayun Haeri stated that his team will be working on creating a plan to adjust the electricity rates for mining farms that will be later discussed with other ministries and submitted for approval.”
The sanctions from the United States over Iran’s nuclear work is seemingly having a big impact on the public’s freedom for banking and finances. This could be the reason why citizens in Iran have been turning to digital currencies like Bitcoin to securely store their finances and transfer money on a global scale.
One researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, Mahsa Alimardani:
“Everyone’s talking about Bitcoin and how to get it. Bitcoin and [other cryptocurrencies] are slowly coming up as a [hedge].”
