Crypto Miners in Iran will have to face a tough time. They have to pay higher electricity bills if the Energy Minister of Iran implements the latest idea, which is to stop charging lower electricity from these firms.
The deputy energy minister of Iran said that the electricity bills for the cryptocurrency miners should be calculated as per the real prices, Iranian local newspaper Financial Tribune declared on June 9.
Iran's Deputy Energy Minister, Homayoun Haeri, said that the electricity bills for the cryptocurrency mining activity should be priced at the same rates based on power exports. The government spends more than $1 billion USD in different electricity subsidies, but they feel as if the miners are using this to take benefit as they are carrying out high-intensity energy procedures.
Authorities in Iran prohibit the mining and trading of cryptocurrency. But these activities continue to increase because of the low cost of electricity.
Due to the very low cost of mining in Iran, the market continues to grow exponentially. Sanctions imposed by the US on Iran has urged various people in Iran to mine and trade cryptocurrency as an option to fiat currency.
Apart from this issue, foreign investors also mine in Iran. Nirma Dehqan, one of the local blockchain researcher confirmed that some investors from countries like Spain, Ukraine, and Armenia and France have a keen interest in the local market.
Hence, this forms a local scenario in which the foreign crypto investors use the cheap electricity without providing any type of counterparty for the government and the local population, they utilize electricity for their own good.
Iran's electricity cost is below $0.01USD per kilowatt-hour, which is cheaper than most of the countries in the world.
In September 2018, Iran has shown a positive stance towards crypto mining. Also, the government authorities have accepted crypto mining as a legitimate industry and also received some sanctions.
During that time, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme Cyberspace Council said that the Iranian National Cyberspace Center was building a platform for crypto mining regulation, however, the particular authorities thought about the development of crypto mining -related regulatory framework.
In to gain economic stability in the country, the government has also been planning to introduce its own state-backed cryptocurrency. Iran’s National Cyberspace Center also disclosed that the draft was being formed as per the instructions of the president Hassan Rouhani.