Iran re-allows legal mining of cryptocurrencies

Iran's Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to combat the country's energy shortage by tighteningrules for mining companies.

Ministry of Industry and Trade of Iran(MIMT) announced the resumption of cryptocurrency mining in the country - subject to several strict conditions. Licenses will only be issued to mining companies that use renewable energy sources. Licenses for companies using other energy sources will not be renewed.

The ministry believes that the only wayprevent illegal mining of cryptocurrencies in the country - provide energy and make enterprises legal. The state body did not specify what these sources might be.

In December last year, the Iranian authorities decidedclose all authorized cryptocurrency mining centers due to the increased load on the power grid. It was reported that illegal farms for the extraction of crypto-currencies in total consumed more than 600 MW of electricity. At the same time, Tehran does not categorically oppose mining; at the moment, MIMT has issued more than 1,000 mining licenses.

At the beginning of the year, the Iranian authorities announced that they were going to create a platform where local companies could pay for exports and imports using digital currencies.

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