Iran had imposed a strict three-month ban on bitcoin mining earlier this year in May. While Iran has a semi-regulated Bitcoin mining industry, they were concerned about the power consumption that drives this multi-million dollar enterprise.
After complaints of excessive stressing of the electricity grids which would only get worse in the summer months, President Hassan Rouhani on May 26th, 2021 had imposed a temporary ban on cryptocurrency mining. The move was to mitigate the demand for electricity that shoots up during the summer months in an already hot and dry country.
It was a preemptive measure to make sure the country’s power supply lines don’t get stressed further and collapse. Typically Iran suffers from power outages in the summer months. However, now the ban on Bitcoin mining has been lifted
Iran has become a hub of Bitcoin mining. After China’s crackdown on mining activities, Iran has been one of the preferred destinations of bitcoin miners. However, the global Bitcoin mining share is not that impressive – only about 4.5%to 7% of the world’s cryptocurrency mining is supported by miners in Iran.
Iran has also issued licenses for carrying out crypto mining activities, but illegal mining activities have been rampant. Often there are reports of illegal mining activities running under the nose of the authorities.
While the government has a fairly liberal approach to cryptocurrency mining, the opposition and environmentalists have been lashing out at miners and demanding that these activities be banned.
