Iran Officials Blame Bitcoin Miners for Blackouts and Pollution
Iran’s authorities are blaming Bitcoin miners for widespread blackouts and pollution across the country.
In August 2019, amid comprehensive US sanctions, Iran eased restrictions on cryptocurrencies as it was shut out of traditional financial markets. Bitcoin “legally” mined could be used for financing imports.
Authorized miners could use a limited amount of Iran’s subsidized energy. But cryptocurrency farms, with banks of high-powered computers, began draining supplies. The problem was compounded by thousands of “illegal” operations.
With the price of Bitcoin rising sharply, the Government has been accused of involvement in the illegal schemes. Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of President Hassan Rouhani’s office, responded that there has been “pressure to regulate [the market] in some way”.
BY: Miriam Berger, The Washington Post
Iranian health officials have warned that high levels of pollution will exacerbate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already caused more deaths in Iran than in any other country in the Middle East [File: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters]
Massive blackouts and smog have hit cities across Iran. It’s a toxic mix as the country, already under economic duress and suffocating U.S. sanctions, simultaneously battles the region’s worst coronavirus outbreak.
Blackouts are not new in Iran, where an aging and subsidized electricity sector is plagued by alleged mismanagement.
Only this time, government officials say that bitcoin mining at so-called cryptocurrency farms – the energy-intensive business of using large collections of computers to verify digital coin transactions – is partly to blame.