The Majlis Research Center, the research wing of the parliament, has assessed the impact of the government ban on cryptomining and closure of unauthorized mining centers, saying that the policy was a failure.
The results of the assessment were recently published on the MRC website, in which the measure is rejected as absolutely unsuccessful because it had no visible change in the total cryptomining business in Iran.
“Estimates about the total volume of cryptocurrencies mined in Iran between April 2021 and August 2021 shows that more than half the illegal miners in the country were indifferent to the government’s decision to ban cryptomining,” reads the report.
The report added that based on data from the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade total power consumption of illegal miners is in the range of 800 megawatts, whereas the national grid has logged a deficit of 10,000 megawatts during the peak season. “Thus, illegal miners accounted for hardly 10% of the total consumption.”
The report called on policymakers to make informed judgments on the crypto front so that the country can benefit from innovative technology with minimum cost.
“The existing policy will likely have no positive impact on the economy,” the MRC stressed.
Disbanded illegal cryptocurrency mining centers across Iran have reached 6,914 since the crackdown began in 2020 and most were in five provinces, including Tehran.
Total power consumption of the banned centers was nearly 645 megawatts, which was the same as the annual consumption of three major provinces, namely North Khorasan, South Khorasan and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari.
Cryptominers are often blamed for power shortages in summer fueling public frustration when the lights go off despite the fact that the share of legal e-currency miners in the total electricity consumption is meager.
Tavanir, the main utility, has claimed that illegal miners recently used 3.84 trillion rials ($16.5 million) in subsidized electricity and inflicted 380 billion rials ($1.3 million) in damages to the national grid.
Mining virtual currency is legal in Iran and miners can operate only under rules approved by the government in July 2019. Mining digital currency without a license from the Ministry of Industries is illegal.
When the power situation worsened last summer, Tavanir shut all the illegal cryptomining units it found to prevent blackouts.
To ease mounting pressure on the national grid, former president Hassan Rouhani in May 2021 ordered a blanket ban on all cryptomining.
