Iran’s state-owned power distribution company, Tavanir, has threatened harsher measures to discourage unauthorized crypto mining. These include much higher fines for those minting digital currencies with subsidized electricity and penalties for government officials involved in mining.
The Iran Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Company (Tavanir) has adopted new, more severe measures to prevent crypto mining outside the law. The utility’s spokesman Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi announced that fines for illegal activities in the sector have been increased by 400%. Quoted by the English-language Iranian edition Financial Tribune, he elaborated:
Unlicensed crypto miners must pay their electricity bills at rates four times higher than export rates that are already higher than the subsidized tariffs for households.
Mashhadi also said that first-time offenders will be denied access to subsidized energy, including electricity, natural gas and liquid fuels, for a period of three months after they are identified. And those that are caught again will be cut off from supply for a full year, the official added in a statement published on the website of the Iranian Ministry of Energy.
If crypto mining is detected at facilities owned by state-run organizations or public institutions, those responsible will face penalties under the law and will be suspended from their government jobs in the Islamic Republic, the report also revealed.
Iran legalized cryptocurrency mining as an industrial activity in July 2019. Since then, dozens of companies have applied for a license from the Ministry of Industry and started minting coins with the low-cost energy offered by Iranian power plants.
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