The government of Iran has reportedly started issuing licenses to crypto miners under the new “comprehensive and detailed” regulatory framework approved last week. The previous licenses were issued to several crypto mining companies, but the authorities stopped issuing them due to illegal mining and power consumption.
Iran resumes issuing 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, Mine, and Trade, said his ministry now has permission to resume issuing licenses for crypto mining, local media reported. His quote was:
The government has issued rulings that allow entities to apply for a license to mine crypto assets.
Before an entity can begin mining crypto currencies in Iran, it must have both an operating and an establishment license. While the former allows the entity to be legal crypto miners, the latter permits it to start actual crypto mining.
Sharing some details of the newly approved crypto regulatory framework, Mohsen Rezaei Sadrabadi, secretary of the government’s working group on cryptocurrency, said that mining centers can now apply for a license and use mined cryptocurrencies to pay for imports.
The Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade issues crypto-miner licenses. He also explained that large-scale crypto mining is covered by the regulatory framework. It also contains provisions regarding energy supplies to the mining industry with priority given to renewable energy.
Rezaei Sdrabadi also noted that the central bank has been designated the main regulator for the cryptocurrency sector. He believes crypto regulation must be multi-dimensional. One regulator shouldn’t oversee all of the sector, as there are many other components to the crypto ecosystem.
Although crypto trading was banned by the Iranian central bank in 2019, crypto mining was legalized by the government. The regulatory framework required crypto miners to get a license and to identify themselves. They also had to pay higher electricity tariffs. Finally, they were allowed to sell the mined bitcoins to government directly. Iran changed some regulations in July to allow crypto miners access to renewable energy.
In December last year, the Iranian government ordered licensed cryptocurrency miners to temporarily stop operations due to extreme weather taking a toll on the country’s power grid during the cold months. After licensed crypto-mining facilities had voluntarily closed their doors, the national electricity company announced that a ban on cryptocurrency mining would be in place for four months. However, the ban was lifted in September.
Under the old regulatory framework, Iran has issued over 1,000 cryptocurrency mining licenses. Iranian authorities disclosed in May that more than 6,914 illegally operated crypto mining farms were closed. Tavanir, the Iran Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company, claimed that illegal cryptocurrency mining in Iran accounted for nearly 85% of the industry’s power consumption. Since March, it has taken a number of illegal mining machines and threatened to take harsh action against those who are not licensed.
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