Minister says he is aware Chinese mining digital gold in Iran
Iran’s Minister for Communications and Information Technology has admitted that the ulteracheap electricity is causing the Chinese to enter the country and start mining cryptocurrencies.
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said on Saturday that he had no evidence of the presence of the Chinese nationals in Iran for the sole purpose of bitcoin mining although he admitted that it was a case.
Jahromi said Iran had become a new destination for bitcoin miners as cheap prices of electricity offered to certain users on the grid makes mining a hugely profitable business.
“A major part of cryptocurrency mining used to be done in China before Iran became attractive for miners,” said Jahromi, adding, “There is no evidence of the activity the Chinese in Iran although I have heard it unofficially.”
The minister rejected reports that the Chinese government was involved in the issue.
“The Chinese government has no plan to be present in the field of cryptocurrency mining in Iran,” he said, adding, “However, China’s private sector and people may have been involved in this area.”
Jahromi made the remarks just after a trip to China where he met senior government officials and discussed with them a need for more cooperation between the two countries in the field of digital economy.
He said Iran and China currently have around $1.5 billion worth of trade in goods and services related to information technology.
Bitcoin mining has mushroomed in Iran over the past months causing authorities to launch a crackdown on people who use subsidized electricity to mine the digital gold.
Daily news bulletins on the state television normally contain reports about the discovery of mining machines in relatively large numbers in places like abandoned factories, farms and greenhouses.
Official estimates show that bitcoin mining is consuming around 700 megawatts of electricity from Iran’s power grid each day.
Each watt of electricity for normal residential use in Iran costs around $0.05, nearly five percent of the price the country charges for electricity exported to neighboring countries.
Jahromi said there was a need for the government to authorize cryptocurrency mining with competitive prices in off-peak hours, insisting the move could create wealth for the country.
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