Iran Begins Licensing Crypto Miners Under New Regulations – Regulation of Bitcoin News

The government of Iran has reportedly started issuing licenses to crypto miners under the new “comprehensive and detailed” regulations approved last week. Authorities have previously issued licenses to a number of crypto mining operations, but halted the process due to power consumption and illegal mining issues.

Iran continues to issue licenses to crypto miners

The Iranian government approved a set of “comprehensive and detailed” crypto regulations during a meeting last week that include provisions for crypto mining.

Reza Fatemi Amin, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade, said his ministry is now authorized to resume issuing crypto mining licenses, local media reported. He was quoted as saying:

Based on the rulings of the authorities, the entities applying to mine crypto-assets can obtain an establishment license and an operating license.

A couple of licenses are required before an entity can start mining cryptocurrencies in Iran: an establishment license and an operating license. The former establishes the device as a legal crypto miner while the latter allows it to actually start crypto mining.

Mohsen Rezaei Sadrabadi, secretary of the government’s cryptocurrency task force, shared some details about the newly approved crypto regulations, saying that mining centers can now apply for a license and use mined cryptocurrencies to pay for imports.

He explained that the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade is responsible for issuing licenses to cryptominers, adding that the new regulations have provisions that address large-scale cryptomining. There are also provisions on energy supplied to the mining industry, with renewable energy as a priority.

In addition, Rezaei Sadrabadi noted that the government has decided to make the central bank the primary regulator of the crypto sector. However, he believes that crypto regulation should be multi-dimensional and one regulator should not oversee the entire sector as the crypto ecosystem encompasses more than just cryptocurrencies.

In 2019, the Central Bank of Iran banned crypto trading in the country, but the government legalized crypto mining as an industry. A set of regulations was then established, requiring crypto miners to obtain a license, identify themselves, pay higher tariffs for electricity and sell their mined bitcoins directly to the government. In July, Iran changed some regulations to make it easier for crypto miners to access renewable energy.

Last December, the Iranian government ordered licensed cryptocurrency miners to temporarily halt operations due to extreme weather that took a toll on the country’s power grid during the cold months. The national electricity company then announced a four-month ban on crypto mining in May, but lifted the ban in mid-September after licensed crypto mining facilities voluntarily shut down operations to ease the electricity burden.

Iran issued more than 1,000 licenses for crypto mining under the previous regulations. Iranian authorities revealed in May that close to 6,914 illegal crypto mining farms had been shut down. Tavanir, Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company, claimed that illegal cryptocurrency mining in Iran accounted for nearly 85% of the industry’s electricity consumption. It has threatened to crack down on unlicensed crypto miners, and nearly 10,000 illegal mining rigs have been seized since March.

What do you think about Iran issuing licenses to crypto miners under new regulations? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of economics and cryptography.