A judicial ruling requires Iranian authorities to release some of the 150,000 crypto mining equipment previously seized over energy concerns.
Iranian authorities have confiscated a large number of cryptocurrency mining equipment over the past two years, citing winter stress on the power grid. Now, a court has ordered the release of crypto mining equipment that was previously confiscated as an energy-saving measure.
Since 2021, Iran’s Organization for the Expropriation and Sale of State Property (OCSSOP) has confiscated both authorized and unauthorized mining equipment due to looming power shortages. However, authorities changed their minds over the winter as they ordered the release of the seized.
However, Eshtehadi believes that the recently released mining rigs could add pressure to the country’s energy grid. He suggested that the Electricity Generation and Transmission Company of Iran (TAVANIR) must come up with a hardware usage plan to avoid undue stress on the national grid system.
Iran will have to cut power to legal mining companies as early as June 2022 as the country's electricity consumption hit an all-time high of 62,500 megawatts (MW) during peak periods. At the time, Iran accounted for 0.12% of global Bitcoin hash rate, which has now increased to 0.2%, as shown in the graph above.
Iran’s energy concerns become evident given recent laws imposing fines for the illegal use of subsidized energy in crypto mining. Denver-based Crusoe Energy, on the other hand, aims to help the gas-rich Middle Eastern nation of Oman reduce gas flaring the flaring of gas associated with oil extraction.
Crusoe Energy has announced plans to launch a pilot project in Muscat, Oman, to repurpose energy from burning natural gas to power mining computers. The initiative will help Oman meet its goal of zero gas flaring by 2030.
