Over the past five months, Iranian police have confiscated more than 9000 crypto mining rigs. Revealing the same, media house Iran International’s report noted,
“Iranian police have discovered and confiscated 9,404 illegal cryptocurrency mining devices in Tehran since the beginning of the Persian calendar year, which started on March 21.”
The Head of Tehran Electricity Distribution Company—Kambiz Nazerian—told on Monday that the energy-guzzling devices were discovered by inspectors in different districts of the capital.
Authorities have been confiscating mining rigs for more than a year now. Last year in May, they seized 7,000 computer miners at an illegal cryptocurrency farm, making it their largest haul.
Mining, on its part, is a power-intensive drill, and it’s known that the nation has been suffering from power outages. The government has repeatedly pointed out that the said activity is one of the major contributors to the elevating power demand. It has cut the power supply for the country’s crypto mining rigs in several instances.
To dodge the bullet, a set of miners ended up setting up illegal cryptocurrency mining machines in different parts of the country. Per Iran International,
“Many of these operations were based in public locations such as schools and mosques that receive free or heavily-subsidized electricity.”
Imports Association presses for crypto regulations
On the one hand, illegal mining has been taking shape in Iran; on the other, associations have been calling out for stable crypto regulations.
The Head of Iran’s Importers Group and Representatives of Foreign Companies—Alireza Managhebi—told on Saturday that stable regulations and infrastructure should be prepared to successfully use cryptocurrencies for imports.
It is worth recalling that at the beginning of this month, Iran had executed its first crypto-centric import worth $10 million. Back then, an official from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade revealed that cryptos and smart contracts would be “widely used” in foreign trade with target countries by the end of September.
Read More: Iran executes 1st Crypto centric import worth $10 million
Managhebi has, however, now questioned,
“… has the government developed consistent regulations for the cryptocurrency uses so that they will not change within two months and the businessmen active in this field will not be harmed?”
After opining on the significance of the dollar and crypto in the market, he added,
“It is necessary to train people for using this new technology in the country and have stable laws in this regard.”