Digital currencies and electricity prices

Iranian authorities are trying to regulate the crypto mining. On the one hand, Iran wants to boost the local cryptocurrency market. On the other hand, it is trying to expose illegal crypto mining operations in the country. Digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and others offer several advantages in comparison with fiat currencies.

Iran has to deal with U.S. sanctions. The geopolitical situation in the Middle East is also quite tense. In this situation, it is not surprising that Iran has to come with a plan on how to minimize the damage caused by international sanctions.

Based on the information, the Iranian government finalized power tariffs for cryptocurrency miners.

Iran’s Energy Ministry prepared special prices for crypto miners. Ministry’s spokesman Mostafa Rajabi made a comment regarding this topic. He explained that according to the new regulations, it is forbidden to use the electricity for crypto mining during peak hours.

It means that crypto miners will have to optimize their operations according to new regulations.

Digital currencies and Iran

An average price for the export of electricity will be 9,650 rials or $0.08 for each kilowatt-hour. Nevertheless, during the cold months of the year, the price will drop to $0.04 KWh.

It means that crypto miners will have to pay only half of an average price in the eight cold months. However, the situation will be different during the remaining four months as the price will reach $0.16.

Iranian authorities are ready to pay up to 20% of the money they will recover after exposing illegal mining operations. Anyone who will help to discover such cases will receive up to 20% of the recovery of the damage to the national power grid.

Illegal crypto mining is a serious challenge for Iran; miners are using subsidized energy for mining. For example, energy consumption increased by 7% due to crypto mining in June. This summer, more precisely, in June, Iranian authorities seized around 1,000 Bitcoin mining machines.