Iranian authorities have seized thousands upon thousands of Bitcoin mining devices that have allegedly been using illegally supported electric power from state-owned energy firm Tavanir.
According to an article by local news agency Tasmin, over 45,000 mainly application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) units were obtained.
The powerful machines had been continually consuming 95 MW of electricity per hour at a reduced price, as noted by Tavanir’s head Mohammad Hassan Motavalizadeh.
Prior to this month, Iranian agencies shut down 1,650 unlawful cryptocurrency mining facilities thought to have communally used 250 MW of electric energy over the past 18 months.
The nation’s recent shutdowns across major municipalities have been contributed in part to cryptocurrency mining, attracting the anger of officials who have requested a temporary break on BTC mining until further notice.
Crypto analyst Ziya Sadr said to the Washington Post that miners had “nothing to do with the shutdowns,” claiming they only answered for an “insignificant” fraction of overall electricity usage in the country.
In July of 2020, Iran created a registration decree forcing miners to uncover their identities. It also required them to disclose the size of their mining plants and their mining equipment details to the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.
