Iran plans to allow crypto-mining

Iranian authorities plan to authorize cryptocurrency mining, said the head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), according to the July 10 news agency PressTV.

The CBI head Abdol Hemmati reportedly stated that the Iranian government approved some parts of the executive law that would allow mining of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) in Iran. The statement of Hemmati follows for a long time back and forth on the legal status of cryptocurrency in Iran.

As explained by Hemmati, the planned law will require crypto-mining in Iran to match the price of electricity for export, rather than allowing miners to use the heavily subsidized domestic grid. According to the report, Iran exports electricity to neighboring countries at prices 40-100% higher than it provides domestically.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Chinese miners were present in Iran because of cheap energy prices for mining cryptocurrency.

Hemmati continued that the miners of cryptocurrencies in Iran should contribute to the country’s economy, and not allow bitcoin to be extracted abroad. He also added that the CBI will not authorize any currency whose values are “determined” by the price of the national currency or gold, among other things.

The new announcement followed reports that the Iranian authorities were planning to cut off electricity for crypto-mining because of an abnormal jump in electricity consumption that was allegedly caused by an increase in the rate of crypto-mining in the country. Accordingly, the Iranian government subsequently confiscated about 1,000 pieces of mining equipment for Bitcoin in two operations.

On July 8, the deputy governor for new technologies at CBI reportedly stated that the purchase and sale of cryptographic protection in Iran is illegal, citing local money-laundering rules.