According to the local news report, Iranian authorities busted 1,100 illegal bitcoin mining operations through the help of whistleblowers.
After the July announcement of the government rewarding those who can tip off operators of illegal crypto business, several concerned citizens leaked information. These key witnesses would be paid 100 million rials or an estimated $2,400.
According to the Tavanir deputy head Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, they have decided to seize these farms as they have grown tremendously.
With these, they “cannot detect all illegal farms solely by studying their consumption patterns.”
If one could remember, Iran’s bitcoin miners were authorized in July last year, but eventually, complained about high power tariffs.
Other fams have commenced underground work using subsidized electricity.
Mashhadi also added that some miners set up equipment at industrial and agricultural units that are already power-intensive to evade being detected.
“Therefore, Tavanir’s monitoring reveals no significant change in consumption of this particular category,” he further disclosed,
Apart from being the world’s third-largest oil-producer, Iran is faced with smuggling of mining equipment into the country.
For more than a year, the Islamic Republic has issued 624 mining farm permits, yet a few of the licensed farms are idle.
Recently, Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri Kouhshahi said that all miners must coordinate with the government for the registration.
Priding itself with cheap electricity, the country’s miners are as low as afield as Ukraine and China.
These companies only shell out as little as 4,800 rials ($0.01) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity, but rates reach four-fold to 19,300 rials ($0.05) during the peak summer season that is from June to September.
But in recent days, about 47% of the electricity tariff is given to miners during the peak consumption periods to incentivize legalized mining.
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