- Iran is reportedly giving out $24 to anyone who alerts authorities to illegal crypto mining operations as the country faces power shortages amid a severe heatwave.
- The chief of Iran’s state-run electricity company said some had exploited subsidized electricity to run crypto mining operations, straining the power grid.
Temperatures have soared to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) in parts of the country, straining the grid, which the CEO of the country’s state-run electricity company Tavanir claims is made worse by crypto miners, the Iran-focused news outlet Iran International reported on Aug. 13.
“A bounty of 1 million toman will be awarded to individuals who report every single unauthorized cryptocurrency mining equipment,” Tavanir CEO Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said. One million toman is worth roughly $24 at the current exchange rate.
“Opportunistic individuals have been exploiting subsidized electricity and public networks to mine cryptocurrencies without proper authorization,” he added.
“This unauthorized mining has led to an abnormal surge in electricity consumption, causing significant disruptions and problems within the country’s power grid.”
Mashhadi claimed that 230,000 illegal crypto-mining rigs, which consumed up to 900 megawatts of power, had been discovered, which he said was equivalent to the consumption of an Iranian province with 1.4 million residents.
Iran International reports that Iranian authorities often announce the discovery of illegal crypto miners, with many operations running out of schools and mosques that get free or subsidized electricity.
Crypto mining is an energy and tech-intensive process where specialized computers solve cryptographic puzzles in a bid to win a reward paid out in crypto. The most popular proof-of-work blockchain is Bitcoin (BTC).
These rewards were cut by 50% in April in the Bitcoin halving, which saw publicly traded Bitcoin miners in the United States lose money. Some switched to backing artificial intelligence in a bid to keep profits.
In May, Venezuela banned crypto mining, claiming it was to protect the nation’s power grid as they consumed an excess amount of energy.
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