In the early hours of Friday, January 15, 2021, defiant youths targeted three repressive IRGC Basij bases in Khorasan Province in cities of Mashhad, Bojnurd,
Iran has launched a crackdown on cryptocurrency miners who it claims are responsible for power blackouts that are blighting the country.Parts of Tehran, the capital, and the cities of Mashhad and
LONDON: Iran has ordered a crackdown on cryptocurrency miners after blackouts in major cities were attributed to the excess toll the activity takes on the energy grid. Parts of Tehran, as well as Mashhad and Tabriz, have experienced repeated blackouts in recent weeks, temporarily halting production lines and plunging the cities into darkness.
Outcry Over Power Outages, Smog Forces Iran To Act Against Bitcoin Miners
January 17, 2021 08:54 GMT
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Iranian authorities are blaming power outages and worsening air pollution in cities across the country on the energy drain caused by bitcoin mining operations.
The cryptocurrency farms are a huge energy drain because they use banks of high-powered computers to try to unlock complex numerical puzzles related to international financial transactions.
When successful, bitcoin miners create units of so-called digital coins that can be traded globally without the scrutiny and restrictions of traditional financial markets.
Circumventing Sanctions
In August 2019, facing strangling U.S. economic sanctions, Iran eased its restrictions on cryptocurrencies in an attempt to break economic isolation by circumventing the traditional financial markets Tehran has been blocked from using.