The Government of Iran has decided to stop supplying power to crypto mining farms until new prices for energy are approved, according to a report by local news outlet Iran Daily. 

Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, an official at Iran’s Ministry of Energy, disclosed that electricity consumption in the country surged by 7% over a period of one month as measured on June 21st, 2019. 

According to Mashhadi, the spike in consumption was the result of increasing crypto mining activity in the country, and the government is taking action to address the issue. 

Crypto Miners to Pay Full Price for Power

The Energy Ministry official said the government is going to cut power to identified crypto miners until a recent proposal for new energy prices is approved. The new bill will result in crypto mining farms paying the actual costs of electricity, as opposed to rates that have been heavily subsidized by the Iranian administration. 

“The overconsumption of energy is causing problems for other users,” Mashhadi remarked.

As previously reported in June, the deputy energy minister of Iran proposed that crypto miners should be charged the same rates for power utilities as those intended for export. 

Iran’s Crypto Industry Is Booming 

Nonetheless, the country’s crypto industry has been growing rapidly since September 2018. Iranian authorities have officially accepted crypto mining as an industry and adopted a progressive stance towards virtual currencies. 

Despite profiting immensely from crypto mining activities, the country has to pay an estimated US$1 billion to subsidize the actual cost of electricity for its citizens. Cryptocurrency mining entrepreneurs in Iran are purportedly taking advantage of this discount to run their farms.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com 

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