Iran Starts Issuing Crypto Mining Licenses

The Iranian government has reportedly began issuing licenses to crypto miners in compliance under the latest “comprehensive and exact” legislative structure enacted the week before. Earlier, the procedure of awarding licenses to different cryptocurrency mining businesses was halted owing to power consumption and unlawful mining issues.

As per local news outlets, Reza Fatemi Amin, Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, said that his agency is now authorized to begin granting mining licenses. During a conference days ago, the Iranian government reportedly established a set of “full and exact” crypto laws, which encompass mining standards. According to government laws, organizations that want to mine crypto assets may seek an operating license and an organization license.

Mohsen Rezaei Sadrabadi, the secretary of the government’s task force on cryptos, presented some details about the latest approved legislative structure for governing cryptos, along with the assertion that mining companies can now submit applications for a license and utilize the cryptos they generate to settle import bills.

Before a corporation can start crypto mining in Iran, it must initially get both an operating license and an establishment license. The operating license proves that the entity a genuine miner of bitcoin, while the second grants it permission to commence mining.

The Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Commerce is responsible for issuing licenses to crypto miners, he noted, noting that the revamped legal framework addresses large-scale cryptocurrency mining activity. Furthermore, there are restrictions governing the mining industry’s power usage, with an emphasis on sustainable power.

Rezaei Sadrabadi said that the state has designated the central bank as the primary regulator of the business. Nevertheless, he believes that because the cryptocurrency sphere encompasses much more than cryptos, the sector’s governance should be multidimensional and not under the hands of a single authority.

Three years back, the Iranian government legalized crypto mining as a business, but the country’s central bank barred crypto. After the formation of a controlled framework, cryptocurrency miners were compelled to get a license, reveal themselves, pay higher power rates, and deliver their Bitcoins straight to the government. In July, Iran modified several regulations to make it easier for crypto miners to obtain renewable power.

In December 2021, the Iranian government ordered authorized crypto miners to temporarily suspend activities as harsh weather had a significant influence on the country’s electrical system during the winter months. Back I n May, the country’s electrical utility imposed a four-month prohibition on cryptocurrency mining, which was eventually lifted when permitted cryptocurrency mining centers voluntarily ceased operations to cut power consumption.

As per the previous regulatory framework, Iran granted over a thousand mining licenses. In May, the Iranian government announced the dismantling of 6,914 illicit cryptocurrency mining enterprises. The Iran Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (or Tavanir), claimed that more than 85 percent of the nation’s energy usage was utilized for illegal crypto mining. Since March, over 10,000 pieces of illegal mining hardware have been confiscated.