> In 2019 Iran officially recognised cryptoasset mining, later establishing a licensing regime that required miners to identify themselves, pay a higher (but still very low) tariff for electricity, and to sell their mined bitcoins to Iran’s central bank. Thousands of unlicensed mining farms have subsequently been identified and shut down - including in mosques, which receive free electricity.
Iran is 0.004 USD/kWh for households with no info for business costs (though its still likely rather low as Iran is the 2nd lowest cost for energy on that list).
For comparison, USA is 0.153 USD/kWH.
The sanctions aspect make this part of the why crypto currency is appealing. They are essentially burning oil they can't sell on the market into electricity for Bitcoin which is hard to sanction.
> The electricity being used by miners in Iran would require the equivalent of approximately 10 million barrels of crude oil each year to generate - around 4% of total Iranian oil exports in 2020.
From https://www.elliptic.co/blog/how-iran-uses-bitcoin-mining-to...
> In 2019 Iran officially recognised cryptoasset mining, later establishing a licensing regime that required miners to identify themselves, pay a higher (but still very low) tariff for electricity, and to sell their mined bitcoins to Iran’s central bank. Thousands of unlicensed mining farms have subsequently been identified and shut down - including in mosques, which receive free electricity.
So, not quite free - but rather low still. How low is in https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Iran/electricity_prices/
Iran is 0.004 USD/kWh for households with no info for business costs (though its still likely rather low as Iran is the 2nd lowest cost for energy on that list).
For comparison, USA is 0.153 USD/kWH.
The sanctions aspect make this part of the why crypto currency is appealing. They are essentially burning oil they can't sell on the market into electricity for Bitcoin which is hard to sanction.
> The electricity being used by miners in Iran would require the equivalent of approximately 10 million barrels of crude oil each year to generate - around 4% of total Iranian oil exports in 2020.