Iranians in the crypto mining firms are being blamed for the massive electricity blackout and pollution in recent weeks. The govt of Iran initiated a strict lockdown against cryptocurrency mining farms. The crypto mining farms are allegedly held responsible for the electricity blackout of many cities.
The chief of electricity company Tavanir, ordered to temporarily shut down all bitcoin mining farms including a joint Chinese-Iranian mining firm in the city of Rafsanjan. Mohammad Hassan Motavalizadeh further stated that the Bitcoin miners, using ASIC, had been consuming 95 megawatts per hour (MWh) of electricity at least rate.
Similarly, many other authorized bitcoin mining companies’ operations have been halted that used to consume around 600MWh of electricity. The pandemic and severe winter have caused a surge in the country’s demand for energy. Press TV quoted the official, “The total reduced consumption corresponds to the (electricity) use for a city with a population of over half a million,”
In the last month of 2020, the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, polka dot, Binance coin (BNB), and many other prominent altcoins surged tremendously that caused a huge increase in crypto mining activities. In the future, the competition for cryptocurrency mining seems to increase and so the consumption of electricity. The rising price of bitcoin has also created an urgent demand for global bitcoin regulations to avoid its misuse as mentioned by ECBs president Cristine Lagarde.