Countries are finding different ways to fight illegal cryptocurrency mining activities. One of the more interesting approaches comes from Iran, which has started offering bounties to people who expose illegal crypto mining operations.
The announcement came after new regulations were set in motion for the cryptocurrency industry. The news comes from local agency IRIB News. The news agency reported that Mostafa Rajabi, who is the spokesperson of Iran’s Energy Ministry, commented that anyone who exposes illegal crypto mining operations in the country using subsidized electricity would be given a reward equal to up to 20% of the recovery of the damage caused to the power grid by the mining operations.
The new regulations, according to Rajabi, is that miners will not be able to mine during peak consumption time in Iran – which is around 300 hours per one year.
As reported by CryptoGlobe, these are the prices for electricity a miner should pay on average:
- 9,650 rials ($0.08) for each kilowatt-hour (kWh)
- $.04 per kWh during the coldest months in Iran (around eight)
- $0.16 per kWh during the hottest months
What the new regulations will do hopefully is motivate cryptocurrency miners to found their own crypto mining facilities with the new incentives. The Iranian government would be able to support these facilities if they are run on renewable energy sources (RES), a move that can save costs and the environment. Iran is trying to figure out how to best manoeuvre around the new cryptocurrency mining industry, which was legalized earlier this year.
The problem of crypto mining emerged after the government cracked down on a miner earlier in 2019. These illegal operations take huge advantage of the subsidized energy pressure that Iran’s national energy grid experiences. In 2019, Iran seized around 1,000 bitcoin mining machines from just two factories.