Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade granted a license for cryptocurrency mining company iMiner to operate in the country. With 6,000 rigs, iMiner’s setup would purportedly make it one of the largest crypto miners in Iran.
According to an article published on April 29, the Turkey-based company has invested nearly $7.3 million into a Bitcoin (BTC) mining farm in the Semnan Province of Iran, where it will mine digital currency with 6,000 rigs capable of 96,000 terahashes per second (TH/s) in total. This equates to 16 TH/s per rig on average, the same as the Aladdin Miner listed on the company’s website.
In addition, iMiner will continue to offer trading and custody services for the Middle Eastern nation through Semnan and their offices in Tehran.
Crypto mining in the Iranian economy
The Iranian government authorized cryptocurrency mining as an industrial activity in July 2019, and has since issued over 1,000 licenses to crypto mining companies including iMiner. The country’s low energy prices make it appealing for miners, who are well known for having high electricity bills.
Iran’s economy is suffering both from the continuing pandemic the sanctions enforced by the United States and other western countries. Some military officials have suggested turning to digital currency to help facilitate trade while importing foreign currency and skirting such sanctions.
However, the push for innovative technology has led to smuggling unregistered crypto mining equipment. As Cointelegraph reported in November 2019, Iranian authorities even offered a bounty for those willing to expose unauthorized mining operations.
