The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran Iran’s capital and major cities plunged into darkness in recent weeks as rolling outages left millions without electricity for hours. Traffic lights died. Offices went dark. Online classes stopped.
With toxic smog blanketing Tehran skies and the country buckling under the pandemic and other mounting crises, social media has been rife with speculation. Soon, fingers pointed at an unlikely culprit: Bitcoin.
Within days, as frustration spread among residents, the government launched a wide-ranging crackdown on Bitcoin processing centers, which require immense amounts of electricity to power their specialized computers and to keep them cool a burden on Iran’s power grid.
Published date: 23 January 2021 10:45 UTC | Last update: 10 months 3 weeks ago
Controversy has erupted in Iran after senior officials blamed Chinese mining of cryptocurrencies for recurring blackouts in the country, as well as rocketing pollution.
Following major power outages in Tehran in early January, media reports and officials began to point the finger at a large Chinese mining farm near the city of Rafsanjan.
The farm, which employs 54,000 miners, is the largest authorised site for Bitcoin mining in the country, reportedly using 175 megawatt hours of electricity.
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The farm, which operates under the name of the company Iran-China Investment Development Group, has rejected the allegations, blaming inefficiency in the Iranian electricity industry for the blackouts.
Read more about Iran, pressured by power blackouts and pollution, targets Bitcoin on Business Standard. Rolling outages left millions without electricity for hours