After approving cryptocurrency mining, will Iran become a global “mining paradise”?

Iran, which has always been harsh on cryptocurrencies, has suddenly changed its attitude.

On July 22, the Iranian Chamber of Industry, Mining and Agriculture announced that the Iranian Government Economic Committee had approved the establishment of a cryptocurrency mining mechanism. Some people believe that following the mine disaster last year, this new policy will make Iran once again a "mining paradise."

Previously, although there were temptations of electricity prices as low as 4 points, the mining giants who migrated to Iran would face a lot of challenges. Supervision, customs, and local snakes could make the miners lose their blood.

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Now, after the attitude of Iran’s supervision has changed, will the Iranian migration road of the mining army become smooth?

Laohe, who has been operating in Iran for many years, told 31QU that the future of Iran’s mining may not be as smooth as expected; but if you have a way to invest and become a “regular army,” mining in Iran is a profitable business. .

Awkward "mining paradise"

As early as November last year, there were already news that miners had migrated to Iran to mine.

At that time, the price of cryptocurrency plummeted, and the "mine disaster" became increasingly serious. "The mining machine said that it was sold" and "the mining machine 70 pieces a pound" became a hot topic. In a previous interview with 31QU, the founder of Yuchi and CEO of Cobo Wallet said that the rumor is true. Most of the mining machines are still sold at a place where the cost of electricity is cheaper, such as the Middle East.

Some insiders told 31QU that, more specifically, most of the mining machines were shipped to Iran. "In Iran, a second-hand T9 can create more than 3,000 yuan in one year, and it can only be eliminated in China."

At the same time, Bao Erye also sipped on Weibo, “to buy power stations on a global scale.” Three days later, he set his sights on the Middle East. “In a country in the Middle East, for some reason, it is inconvenient to disclose the name, 4 Divided money into RMB once."

Although some netizens speculated that the country that was inconvenient to disclose was Iran, but after more than a month, Bao Erye claimed that "I have only heard about the mining of Iran, I have not personally visited it, nor participated in investment", and stressed that " If you are worried about US sanctions, it is best not to go."

But it is an indisputable fact that miners have moved to Iran. Low-cost electricity bills are the eternal pursuit of the miners. Iran’s electricity bill, which is as low as three points, spurs the nerves of every mine owner.

"In the second half of last year, miners began a large-scale influx into Iran." Yizhong Group director Lao He told 31QU. Yizhong Group is a national key project enterprise of Iran. It is located in the duty-free zone with duty-free and income tax. In 2018, they officially entered the cryptocurrency mining industry.

Unlike the "regular army" of the Iraqi-Chinese group, there are many miners who form "guerrillas." At the end of last year, Coindesk also reported that Chinese miners are looking for mining opportunities in Iran. “In the past few months, they have set up companies in Iran to import minerals,” the interviewee said. This is done "secretly" by people who have a lot of power and money.

This trend continued until the rich season of the Sichuan mine this year. As the currency price rose, the miners who migrated to Iran also joined the vigorous second-hand mining machine battle. According to media reports, because Iranian miners are bidding for "great coolness", in the layout of this year's flood season, domestic mines even appeared in a state of "one machine is hard to find".

However, although Iran’s electricity tariffs are low, there are still various destabilizing factors in the mining of Iran, which has led to the loss of miners.

The first thing to do is to supervise.

In "Iran mining, a thrilling "money game"" article, 31QU has detailed the challenges that a mining machine will face in Iran's stable operation.

The first is the Customs. "The first thing that is shipped to the port is how to declare it. This can't be done, and there is no need to talk about it later." The interviewee said that in the case of non-compliance, once the mine is inspected, it will be Confiscation.

Previously, there was a rumor in the miners that Iranian customs had confiscated at least 40,000 various types of cryptocurrency miners.

Second, it is the partner suddenly changing. For example, local power generation companies suddenly raise prices, and even because the mine machine is running too loud, it is reported by local people.

Today, Iranian officials have changed their attitude towards mining, and the Iranian government economic committee has approved the establishment of a cryptocurrency mining mechanism. Iran, will it be a mining paradise again?

From "warning" to "approval"

In the past two months, Iran’s attitude towards blockchain and cryptocurrency mining has changed dramatically.

Earlier, the Iranian government was not very friendly with the miners from China.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival, Iranian Deputy Minister of Energy Homayoun Haeri said that China's encryption miners should pay electricity bills according to export electricity prices.

Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, deputy general manager of Iran's national grid dispatching, even made it clear that the use of the national grid for cryptocurrency mining is illegal.

On June 24, an official of Tavanir, Iran’s state-owned power generation and transmission company, warned that if Iran’s cryptocurrency miners were found to be mining in electricity, they would face a blackout.

Interestingly, three days later, photos of mining facilities in an Iranian mosque were rumored on social media.

Mahavan Alimardani, a spokesperson for Tavanir, explained: “This is because the mosque has access to free energy in Iran, so the Iranians established a bitcoin mine in the mosque.”

Of course, the Iranian government is not just a "mouth blower". Last month they also seized about 1,000 bitcoin mining machines at two abandoned factories.

In fact, the harsh attitude of the Iranian authorities is understandable. In May of this year, Iran’s electricity consumption increased by 7% year-on-year, and cryptocurrency mining was the main reason.

“The production of each bitcoin is equivalent to the annual consumption of 24 homes in Tehran, or the electricity consumption of a property in 24 years.” Such huge power consumption is used in the cryptocurrency mining industry,” said Masadi. Of course, it will be closely monitored and cracked down by the government.

However, I do not know whether it is forced by the "living pressure" or the purpose of revitalizing the industry. Recently, the attitude of the Iranian government has actually changed by 180 degrees.

The shift can be traced back to July 10, when Iranian central bank governor Abdol Nasser Hemmati said the Iranian government is planning to authorize cryptocurrency mining.

But at the same time he proposed two conditions. Simply put, the first condition is that Chinese miners should pay electricity tariffs according to the export price; the second condition is that the bitcoin income obtained by mining is given to Iran.

Then Mohammad Sharqi, managing director of a non-profit organization blockchain association in Iran, said that the Iranian Ministry of Energy is best to regulate digital currency mining by issuing industrial and commercial electricity licenses.

With more and more attention from all walks of life, on July 22, the Iranian Chamber of Industry, Mining and Agriculture announced that the Iranian Government Economic Committee has approved the establishment of a cryptocurrency mining mechanism in the country. This also marks Iran's official recognition that cryptocurrency mining is a legitimate industry in its territory.

It is worth mentioning that the Iranian government itself has also played the idea of ​​mining. On July 14, an official of the Iranian Chamber of Industry, Mining and Agriculture said that Iran would soon launch a gold-backed cryptocurrency that would be mined under the permission of the Iranian central bank.

Shahab Javanmardi, CEO of Iran's information and communication technology (ICT) company FANAP, said the cryptocurrency will be mined through the Iranian Central Bank and a private IT company in the country. “Iranian cryptocurrency is supported by gold, but its function is similar to that of foreign competitors.”

Although Iran officially recognizes the legal status of cryptocurrency mining, according to Jamal Arounaghi, deputy director of the Iranian Customs Administration (IRICA), only the tariff quota for cryptocurrency mining equipment has been determined, and the government has not yet encrypted any imports. The currency mining machine issues a license.

In any case, as far as the current situation is concerned, the Iranian government’s attitude towards the cryptocurrency mining industry will certainly be more and more positive. The regulatory concerns that Chinese miners are most worried about seem to have been guaranteed.

Iran mining "regular army"

Although the top-level supervision shows attitude, there are still various problems in the implementation process.

"The management of the Iranian government is still quite chaotic." Laohe told 31QU that it is still necessary to rely on the relationship in Iran. Many miners have found large and small relationships in the local area, looking for power plants and looking for big companies, but there will still be cooperation operations. risk.

What's more, in the already disclosed regulatory attitude, other conditions have been set for the foreign mining company: the electricity fee should be paid according to the export electricity price, there is no subsidy; the bitcoin income that is dug is distributed to Iran, which virtually increases the miners. the cost of.

"But the risks are normal." Lao He believes that "some people just like to take risks."

Compared with the miners who are still hesitating to migrate to the Middle East, Laohe’s mines are running too smoothly: no customs problems, “we can legally come in the bonded area”; there is no need to secretly mine. "There is no illegal problem. All of our affairs are clearly stated to the government."

Even the mines in the mine are mostly S9 and T9. "The new mining machine is not concerned, it is too expensive." Lao He bluntly said, "We don't have to use such expensive things, T9 is very good."

At present, Laohe’s company plans to build an oversized mine in Iran with a planned operation of 100,000 mining machines.

"The proceeds are quite good. A mining machine can return to this in 40~50 days." Laohe told 31QU that the most important thing is that the electricity bill is cheap. "In China, the electricity bill may account for 60% of the cost of the mine in Iran. , the ratio may be less than 6%."

Lao He has always stressed that they belong to the "regular army" mining in Iran, but it is not an easy task to become a regular army. "We are a Chinese-funded enterprise that has been established in Iran for many years. It has hundreds of millions of assets. It has also invested in Iran for many years and has a good relationship with the local." Laohe told 31QU that if he wants to become a regular army, he must have strength. Second, there must be years of accumulation.

But for some miners who are wandering around the world, this is a fairly high barrier.

In fact, the number of miners who have gone to Iran to mine now has become less, and more miners are sharing the dividends during the Sichuan flood season. In the cryptocurrency ecosystem, senior miners are the most sensitive to risk and profit.

Text / 31QU small shell Murphy

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